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An  Army  of  the 
People 

The  Constitution  of  an  Effective  Force 
of  Trained  Citizens 


By 

John  McAuley  Palmer 

Major    24th    Infantry,    U.    S.    Army ;     Graduate,    U.    S. 
Military  Academy,  West  Point,  1892  ;  Honor  Gradu- 
ate, Army  School  of  the  Line,  1909  ;   Graduate, 
Army  Staff  College,   1910  ;    Member  of  the 
General  Staff  Corps,  1911-1912 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

tibe    Iknlcherbocher    iPress 

1916 


•J 


3 


-p^ 


Copyright,  1916 

BY 

JOHN    McAULEY    PALMER 


Ube  Iftnfcfjerbocfter  ipress,  mew  IBorft 


^0 
ANSON   CONGER   GOODYEAR 


333764 


**We  must  depend  in  every  time  of  national 
peril,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  not  upon  a 
standing  army,  nor  yet  upon  a  reserve  army,  but 
upon  a  citizenry  trained  and  accustomed  to 
arms.  It  will  be  right  enough,  right  American 
policy  based  upon  our  accustomed  principles 
and  practices,  to  provide  a  system  by  which 
every  citizen  who  will  volunteer  for  the  training 
may  be  made  familiar  with  the  use  of  modern 
arms,  the  rudiments  of  drill  and  maneuver,  and 
the  maintenance  and  sanitation  of  camps.  We 
should  encourage  such  training  and  make  it  a 
means  of  discipline  which  our  young  men  will 
learn  to  value." 

{From  the  President's  Message, 
December  8th,  19 14.) 


PREFACE 

In  this  little  book  I  have  attempted  to  give 
a  detailed  description  of  a  National  Military 
System  for  the  United  States.  I  trust  that 
this  Military  System  will  be  found  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  adequate  military  strength, 
under  forms  that  are  in  full  harmony  with 
American  political  traditions  and  ideals. 

In  order  to  avoid  a  monotonous  treatment 
of  the  many  details  of  military  organization 
in  the  form  of  a  technical  prospectus,  I  have 
attempted  to  present  a  graphic  picture  of  the 
completed  structure.  For  this  purpose  I 
have  adopted  the  fiction  that  Congress  is  to 
pass  The  National  Defense  Act  in  the  near 
future,  and  that  I  am  simply  writing  a  popu- 
lar history  of  the  American  Army  of  the  People 
as  it  stands  complete  a  few  years  later. 

The  Author. 

Fort  Mills,  Corregidor,  P.  I. 
February  lo,  1915. 


Vll 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — Public   Opinion    and   the   Na- 
tional Defense     . 


I 
6 

13 
20 

34 


II. — The  Swiss  Military  System 
III. — The  American  System 
IV. — The  Great  Enrollment  . 

V. — The  Call  for  Officers 

VI. — The  War  Department  at  Work        46 

VII. — The    Volunteer    Army  —  Gen- 
eral Orders  No.  i         .         •       57 

VIII. — Among  the  Volunteers — Ex- 
tracts FROM  Lieutenant 
Burr's  Diary         ...       62 

IX. — Preparing  for  Camp — Lieuten- 
ant Burr's  Diary  Continued  .       74 

X. — The  Volunteers  in  Camp — Fur- 
ther Extracts  from  Lieuten- 
ant Burr's  Diary         .         .       84 

XL — The  Results  of  the  First  Sum- 
mer— Some  Secrets  of  Success     108 
ix 


X  Contents 

IK 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XII. — The  Winter's  Work  and  the 
New  Enrollment — The  Final 
Organization        .         .         .123 

XIII. — The  National  Volunteer  Army 

To-day  (192 i)        .  .         .      137 

XIV. — At   Last — An   American    Mili- 
tary Policy  .         .  .     14.7 


An  Army  of  the  People 


An  Army  of  the  People 


I. 

PUBLIC  OPINION  AND  THE  NATIONAL  DEFENSE 

The  American  National  Defense  Act  received 
the  President's  approval  on  the  i6th  day  of 
February,  1916.  Considering  the  revolution- 
ary character  of  this  great  piece  of  construc- 
tive legislation,  it  is  still  astonishing  that  so 
elaborate  a  system  should  occupy  the  atten- 
tion of  Congress  for  little  more  than  five 
weeks. 

The  advocates  of  an  effective  National 
Military  System  expected  a  long  period  of 
preliminary  agitation  with  a  gradual  develop- 
ment of  public  opinion.  But  when  a  few 
courageous    leaders    frankly    presented    the 


2  An  Army  of  the  People 

issue  of  National  Security  to  the  common- 
sense  of  the  people,  the  response  was  over- 
whelming and  immediate.  This  condition 
of  the  public  mind  materially  simplified  the 
legislative  problem.  That  our  military  insti- 
tutions were  antiquated,  expensive  and  in- 
adequate, was  the  general  consensus  of  public 
opinion.  That  the  public  intelligence  de- 
manded a  sound,  sufficient,  and  businesslike 
solution  of  the  problem  of  National  Defense 
was  equally  apparent.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  only  necessary  for  Congress 
to  crystallize  the  public  will  into  the  form  of 

law. 

It  thus  happened  that  before  the  military 
committees  began  to  write  the  provisions  of 
the  National  Defense  Bill,  certain  general 
guiding  principles  had  come  to  be  universally 
accepted.  These  may  be  stated  briefly  as 
follows : 

I.  Our  military  system  should  be  based 
on  the  idea  of  meeting  national  require- 
ments in  a  great  war.     In  such  a  con- 


National  Defense  Problem        3 

tingency,  raw  levies  organized  after  the 
outbreak  of  war  would  be  hopelessly 
ineffective  no  matter  how  numerous  they 
might  be.  Improvised  forces  of  volun- 
teers such  as  were  employed  in  the  Civil 
War  are,  therefore,  excluded  from  con- 
sideration. 

2.  A  sufficient  force  should  be  trained 
and  organized  in  time  of  peace  to  assure 
victory  at  the  outbreak  of  war. 

3.  The  exact  strength  of  this  force  was 
variously  estimated,  but  the  general 
public  sentiment  was  frequently  ex- 
pressed in  the  saying:  '*In  a  great  war 
we  should  be  able  to  mobilize  an  army 
of  a  million  men." 

4.  To  expand  the  existing  professional 
regular  army  into  a  force  of  such  dimen- 
sions was  universally  accepted  to  be  both 
impracticable  and  undesirable. 

5.  Public  sentiment  still  adhered  to  a 
national  war  army  composed  principally 
of  non-professional  citizen  soldiers,  but 
it   was   universally   accepted   that   this 


An  Army  of  the  People 

army  must  be  trained  and  organized  in 
time  of  peace. 

6.  It  was  generally  conceded  that  the 
peace  training  of  the  War  Army  should 
be  under  a  uniform  national  control; 
that  the  Constitution  makes  the  Federal 
Government  the  national  war-making 
power,  and  that  efficiency  demands  that 
the  war-making  power  must  also  be  the 
war-preparing  power;  that  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  force  for  war  includes  training 
it,  disciplining  it,  and  providing  it  with 
competent  officers  of  adequate  training; 
that  as  the  Federal  Government  is  spe- 
cifically denied  these  essential  powers 
with  reference  to  the  Militia,  it  follows 
that  no  body  of  citizen  soldiers  having 
the  constitutional  status  of  militia  can  be 
welded  into  an  effective  fighting  team  for 
war  purposes  under  modern  conditions. 

7.  It  was  therefore  the  consensus  of  opin- 
ion that  our  main  reliance  in  war  should 
be  a  national  force  of  citizen  soldiers 
organized  and  trained  in  peace  under 


National  Defense  Problem        5 

the  constitutional  power  ''to  raise  and 
support  armies";  that  the  officers  and 
enlisted  men  of  the  organized  militia 
should  be  encouraged  to  transfer  to  the 
new  national  force  and  should  thereby 
become  its  nucleus  and  leaven  of  train- 
ing and  efficiency.  It  was  a  notable 
fact  that  this  view  was  accepted  by  a 
large  number  of  the  more  intelligent 
officers  of  the  Organized  Militia  who, 
through  their  experience,  had  come  to 
see  the  hopelessness  of  attempting  to 
combine  the  functions  of  a  State  con- 
stabulary and  a  national  war  force  under 
the  same  organization. 


II. 

THE  SWISS  MILITARY   SYSTEM 

THE  solution  of  the  problem  of  National 

Defense   was   materially   advanced   by   the 

general  acceptance  of  the  idea  of  a  great 

national    army    of    trained    citizenry.     But 

there  was  still  much  difference  of  opinion 

with  reference  to  the  details  of  organization. 

Among    the    first    concrete    propositions    to 

attract  the  public  mind  was  the  suggestion 

that  we  should   organize   a  force   like  the 

National  Army  of  Switzerland. 

Under  the  Swiss  system  all  able-bodied 

young  men  are  required  to  undergo  a  short 

but   thorough   course   of   military   training. 

In  every  canton,  summer  camps  of  military 

instruction  are  established,  and  every  young 

Swiss  is  required  to  attend  one  of  these  camps 

after  he  leaves  school  and  before  he  enters 

6 


The  Swiss  Military  System       7 

business  life.  Here  he  is  thoroughly  trained 
by  expert  military  instructors  furnished  by 
the  Federal  Government.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  summer  camp  of  instruction,  the 
trained  recruits  of  the  year  are  absorbed  into 
the  National  Field  Army  and  attend  ma- 
neuvers with  their  fellow  citizen-soldiers  who 
have  already  received  their  recruit  training 
in  preceding  summers.  Thus  each  young 
Swiss  gives  one  full  summer  to  recruit  train- 
ing, and  after  that  he  is  mobilized  with  the 
National  Field  Army  for  a  short  maneuver 
period  each  year.  After  several  years'  ser- 
vice with  the  Field  Army,  he  passes  to  the 
Reserve  and  his  active  military  training  is 
concluded  unless  he  qualifies  for  further 
service  as  an  officer  or  non-commissioned 
officer.  It  thus  appears  that  in  Switzerland 
a  trained  and  completely  organized  army  is 
ready  at  any  time  to  spring  from  the  body 
of  the  people,  and  yet  in  time  of  peace  this 
great  war  force  is  only  embodied  as  an  actual 
military  force  for  a  short  period  of  about  two 
weeks  at  the  end  of  the  summer.     For  two 


8  An  Army  of  the  People 

or  three  months  before  the  annual  mobiliza- 
tion, the  recruits  of  the  year  are  receiving 
their  initial  training.  During  the  rest  of  the 
year,  all  of  the  army  is  absorbed  in  the  mass 
of  the  people,  and  engaged  in  the  pursuits 
of  peace,  except  a  small  corps  of  trained 
officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  who 
constitute  the  permanent  staff  required  to 
provide  for  the  enrollment,  training,  supply, 
and  mobilization  of  the  war  force. 

The  benefits  of  such  a  system,  both  to  the 
nation  and  the  individual,  are  apparent. 
From  the  standpoint  of  economy,  nothing 
could  be  more  satisfactory.  Such  an  army 
requires  no  barracks  or  quarters  or  perma- 
nent military  posts.  When  it  assembles,  it 
assembles  in  the  field,  and  knows  no  life 
except  the  real  soldier's  life  in  the  open  air. 
Practically  all  of  the  money  expended  upon 
it  goes  for  arms  and  ammunition  and  neces- 
sary clothing  and  equipment.  Practically  no 
money  goes  for  unproductive  supplies  or 
plant.  Considering  the  entire  force,  it  is  a 
charge  upon  the  nation  for  only  two  weeks 


The  Swiss  Military  System       9 

in  the  year.  For  the  remaining  fifty  weeks, 
it  is  practically  non-existent  as  a  financial 
burden.  And  yet  it  is  embodied  long  enough 
to  give  a  substantial  return  in  military  power. 
Its  recruits  are  thoroughly  trained  to  march 
and  shoot  and  live  in  the  open.  Its  mobili- 
zation plans  each  year  receive  the  practical 
test  of  concentration  for  maneuvers.  Its 
fighting  organizations  actually  exist  and 
function  in  peace,  and  are  in  the  field  long 
enough  each  year  to  test  the  troop-leading 
abilities  of  the  higher  commanders  and  their 
staffs. 

Such  a  military  system  is  equally  well 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  industrial 
life.  It  concentrates  the  training  of  the 
individual  citizen  into  a  period  where  his 
economic  value  is  a  minimum.  It  does  not 
divert  the  schoolboy  from  his  studies,  nor 
the  business  man  from  his  occupation,  for 
the  recruit  period  of  intensive  military  train- 
ing comes  in  a  summer  vacation  that  natu- 
rally marks  the  interval  between  school  and 
business    life.     And    even    the    subsequent 


10        An  Army  of  the  People 

summers  on  the  active  list,  though  they  de- 
mand a  short  maneuver  period,  are  passed 
before  the  citizen  is  absorbed  in  the  cares  and 
responsibilities  of  industrial  and  family  life. 
Indeed  while  the  system  takes  little  or  noth- 
ing from  the  productive  period  of  the  citizen's 
life,  it  adds  enormously  to  his  industrial  and 
civic  value,  for  after  his  military  training  he 
goes  into  business  with  better  conceptions 
of  discipline,  organization,  and  civic  respon- 
sibility, and  a  stronger  and  more  vigorous 
physique. 

In  short,  the  Swiss  system  tends  to  pro- 
duce the  maximum  number  of  trained  soldiers 
in  war  with  the  minimum  number  of  profes- 
sional soldiers  in  peace.  For  while  the  Swiss 
Army  comprises  all  of  the  young  manhood 
of  the  nation,  the  permanent  peace  estab- 
lishment in  Switzerland  is  limited  to  the 
small  corps  of  specially  trained  experts  who 
are  necessary  to  maintain  the  machinery  for 
training,  organization,  and  mobilization. 

It  was  not  surprising  that  popular  interest 
in   the   Swiss  military  system  should   soon 


The  Swiss  Military  System      ii 

crystallize  into  proposals  for  a  definite  na- 
tional policy.  Early  in  the  history  of  the 
discussion  an  American  adaptation  of  the 
Swiss  system  was  thus  outlined  in  the  edito- 
rial_columns  of  one  of  our  greatest  newspapers: 

"Let  us  give  all  of  our  able-bodied  young 
men  a  short  but  thorough  military  training 
like  that  given  to  the  young  men  of  the  Swiss 
Republic.  For  this  purpose  let  us  organize 
a  summer  camp  of  military  instruction  in 
every  congressional  district.  Let  us  employ 
the  best  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers 
of  the  regular  army  as  instructors  in  these 
schools  and  thus  transmit  the  best  traditions 
of  West  Point  and  the  army  to  the  great  war 
host  of  citizen  soldiers.  Let  us  then  organize 
our  trained  youth  into  divisions  and  field 
armies  under  uniform  and  definite  National 
control  and  let  us  count  on  this  mighty  force 
as  our  main  defense  in  war,  our  main  insur- 
ance of  peace. 

"This  being  the  National  War  Army,  we 
may  then  safely  restrict  the  regular  army  to 


12        An  Army  of  the  People 

those  military  functions  which  are  exclu- 
sively appropriate  for  professional  soldiers. 
The  regular  army  will  still  be  required  to 
garrison  our  outlying  possessions  and  to  de- 
fend great  naval  bases  like  Panama  and  Pearl 
Harbor  from  sudden  attack.  Sufficient  re- 
serves of  regulars  will  also  be  required  for 
expeditionary  forces  in  small  wars,  for  tem- 
porary occupations  of  foreign  territory,  and 
for  other  sudden  emergencies.  And  further, 
as  suggested  above,  the  professional  military 
expert  in  the  regular  army  will  find  a  new, 
and  indeed  his  greatest,  field  of  usefulness  in 
training  and  organizing  the  great  war  army 
of  citizen  soldiers." 


III. 

THE  AMERICAN   SYSTEM 

The  economical  and  political  advantages  of 
the  Swiss  military  system  are  so  great  that  it 
is  not  surprising  that  the  first  concrete  de- 
mand for  an  American  National  Army  should 
take  the  form  of  a  proposition  to  adopt  the 
Swiss  model  in  toto.  But  practical  men 
hesitated  before  espousing  the  cause  of  uni- 
versal military  service.  They  conceded  that 
universal  manhood  service  is  the  cheapest, 
fairest,  and  most  democratic  method  of  dis- 
tributing the  burden  of  military  preparation. 
They  were  ready  to  admit  that  universal 
military  training  would  carry  with  it  univer- 
sal educational  advantages  for  civic  and  in- 
dustrial good  in  peace  as  well  as  for  efficiency 
in    war.      But    they    did    not    believe  that 

the  American  people  were  ready  for  conscrip- 

13 


14        An  Army  of  the  People 

tion.  And  they  were  justified  in  their  esti- 
mate of  the  situation.  For  the  discussion  of 
the  Swiss  military  system  bade  fair  to  de- 
generate into  a  fruitless  discussion  of  compul- 
sory service.  The  average  man  was  prepared 
to  admit  the  need  of  a  better  military  estab- 
lishment, but  when  the  Swiss  model  was 
mentioned  he  thought  only  of  the  compulsory 
service  feature  and  rejected  the  whole  idea 
because  he  rejected  conscription.  It  was 
true  that  compulsory  service  might  be  good 
for  the  people,  but  it  was  equally  true  that 
the  people  did  not  want  it.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  agitation  for  the  Swiss 
model  soon  encountered  serious  difficulties. 
Its  many  advantages  were  recognized,  but 
no  practical  politician  could  run  the  risk  of 
proposing  what  was  virtually  a  draft  act  in 
time  of  peace. 

At  this  stage  of  the  discussion.  Senator 
Straightedge  made  his  remarkable  speech 
on  our  military  policy,  from  which  we  quote 
the  following  illuminating  passages : 

"Mr.  President,"  said  the  Senator,  *'I  do 


The  American  System  15 

not  profess  to  be  a  military  expert.  But  I 
am  a  man  of  business  and  I  believe  that  many 
questions  of  military  policy  can  be  approached 
to  advantage  from  a  common-sense  business 
standpoint.  I  believe  that  we  need  an  army 
or  we  do  not  need  it.  If  we  do  not  need  it, 
the  existing  force  should  be  abolished  and  not 
another  cent  expended  upon  it.  If  we  do 
need  an  army  we  should  make  it  sufficient 
in  strength  and  effective  in  equipment  and 
training,  and  it  should  be  conducted  on  sound 
business  principles.  To  continue  to  main- 
tain it  ineffectively  organized  and  at  a  notori- 
ously inadequate  strength,  to  my  mind,  is 
incomprehensibly  absurd. 

"I  have  been  very  much  impressed  by  the 
economical  and  democratic  military  system 
developed  by  our  sister  republic  in  the  Alps. 
I  find  many  things  in  her  solution  of  the 
military  problem  that  seem  worthy  of  study 
by  us.  But  of  late,  when  the  Swiss  National 
Army  is  mentioned,  I  find  it  condemned 
because  the  phrase  '  Swiss  System '  has  come 
to  be  taken  as  a  synonym  for  conscription. 


i6        An  Army  of  the  People 

"Mr.  President,  I  have  recently  taken 
pains  to  make  a  study  of  the  Swiss  National 
Army,  and  I  find  that  conscription  is  not  at 
all  its  essential  feature.  Indeed  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  would  be  possible  for  us  to 
adopt  all  of  the  virtues  of  the  Helvetian 
National  Army  without  adopting  the  prin- 
ciple of  conscription  at  all.  The  real  char- 
acteristic of  the  Swiss  System  lies  in  its 
facilities  for  military  training  in  summer 
camps  of  instruction.  The  effect  of  the  law 
of  compulsory  service  is  simply  to  insure 
the  maximum  number  of  students.  If  they 
maintained  their  training  system  and  did 
not  have  conscription,  they  would  still  have 
the  material  for  a  national  army  precisely 
the  same  in  kind.  It  would  simply  be 
smaller.  Now  Switzerland,  from  her  insecure 
position  amid  the  great  warlike  nations  of 
Europe,  must  have  the  greatest  possible  mili- 
tary force.  She  must  have  the  maximum 
number  of  students  in  her  summer  military 
schools  and  therefore,  through  the  law  of 
compulsory  service,  she  takes  all  of  the  able- 


The  American  System  17 

bodied  young  men  in  the  country.  In  other 
words,  conscription  is  not  a  part  of  her  system 
of  training  or  of  organization,  it  is  simply  the 
necessary  means  of  securing  the  maximum 
enrollment.  If  she  should  abolish  conscrip- 
tion, her  military  forces  would  still  be  the 
same  in  kind.  They  would  simply  be  smaller. 
**Now  suppose  we  had  adopted  the  Swiss 
System  years  ago,  and  that  at  the  same 
time  we  had  adopted  the  principle  of  uni- 
versal service.  Our  population  is  so  much 
greater  than  Switzerland's  that  we  would 
now  have  a  first  line  of  army  of  more 
than  five  million  men,  or  a  war  force,  in- 
cluding reserves,  of  more  than  eight  million 
men.  We  do  not  need  such  an  enormous 
force,  therefore  we  do  not  need  the  device 
which  Switzerland  employs  in  order  to  draw 
an  adequate  military  force  from  her  meager 
population.  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to 
compel  the  attendance  of  every  young  man. 
If  we  should  train  only  one  in  every  eight 
under  the  Swiss  system  we  would  have  a 
first  line  army  of  nearly  seven  hundred  thou- 


i8         An  Army  of  the  People 

sand  and  a  trained  war  establishment  of  more 
than  a  million  men.  If  we  should  adopt  the 
principle  of  universal  service  and  at  the  same 
time  limit  the  strength  of  our  military  forces 
to  our  reasonable  needs,  we  would  be  in  the 
singular  position  of  enrolling  all  of  our  young 
men,  only  to  discharge  seven  out  of  every 
eight  before  commencing  the  season's  train- 
ing. In  short,  Mr.  President,  compulsory 
military  service  is  a  necessary  part  of  the 
Swiss  Military  System  as  applied  to  Swiss 
conditions,  but  it  is  not  a  necessary  part  of 
that  system  as  applied  to  conditions  in  the 
United  States. 

"Mr.  President,  the  rational  application 
of  the  Swiss  System  to  American  conditions 
is  not  a  conscript  army  at  all.  It  is  simply 
the  logical  development  of  our  traditional 
army  of  volunteers.  Let  us  give  our  young 
men  a  chance  to  volunteer  for  training  in 
peace.  Let  us  provide  adequate  facilities 
for  such  training  in  every  part  of  the  land. 
Let  us  organize  the  young  men  so  trained  in 
military  units  that  can  be  speedily  mobilized 


The  American  System  19 

in  war,  and  let  us  rely  upon  this  great  organ- 
ized host  of  citizen  soldiers  to  defend  our 
national  interests.  It  is  my  conviction  that 
the  youth  of  America  will  respond  to  this 
call.  They  ask  you  only  for  the  opportunity. 
If  they  are  not  ready  now,  it  is  for  lack  of 
that  opportunity.  I  believe  that  enough 
and  more  than  enough  will  join  the  standard. 
And  until  you  have  demonstrated  that  they 
will  not  come  there  can  be  no  practical  argu- 
ment for  conscription." 

This  logical  development  of  our  traditional 
national  army  of  volunteers  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  modern  war  became  the  central 
idea  of  the  National  Defense  Act.  The  law 
was  approved  by  the  President  on  February 
1 6th,  and  on  February  226.  he  issued  his  pro- 
clamation extending  the  privileges  of  free 
military  instruction  to  all  of  the  young  men 
in  the  United  States. 


IV. 

THE  GREAT   ENROLLMENT 

The  President's  proclamation  received  the 
widest  possible  publicity  through  the  press 
of  the  country,  but  it  was  also  published 
formally,  as  prescribed  in  the  statute  itself, 
by  being  posted  in  all  of  the  post-offices  in 
the  land. 

The  Proclamation  contained  the  full  text 
of  the  Act  of  Congress  with  the  Special  Regu- 
lations prescribed  by  the  President  govern- 
ing applications  for  attendance  at  the  camps 
of  military  instruction  to  be  established  dur- 
ing the  coming  summer.  It  was  announced 
that  one  or  more  such  camps  would  be  estab- 
lished in  each  State,  the  number  to  depend 
upon  the  total  enrollment  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  applicants  in  each  State. 

Applicants  were  advised  that  blank  forms 

20 


The  Great  Enrollment  21 

and  descriptive  lists  could  be  obtained  from 
the  Postmaster  to  be  filled  in  and  signed  by 
the  applicant  and  returned  to  the  Postmaster 
not  later  than  April  ist,  for  transmission 
through  the  Post  Office  Department  to  the 
proper  military  authorities.  These  blank 
forms  were  accompanied  by  a  prospectus  or 
circular  giving  full  information  as  to  the 
objects  of  the  proposed  summer  camp,  its 
courses  of  instruction  in  general  terms,  and 
the  proposed  formation  of  the  graduates  of 
the  school  into  a  field  army  of  volunteers. 
The  prospectus  described  the  duties  and 
characteristics  of  the  several  branches  of  the 
military  service  and  encouraged  the  applicant 
to  express  a  preference  for  that  arm  which 
most  attracted  him,  or  for  which  he  was  espe- 
cially qualified  by  aptitude  or  training.  It 
also  recited  the  provisions  of  the  law  which 
embodied  the  general  principle  that  all  nec- 
essary expenses  for  transportation,  shelter, 
subsistence,  clothing,  and  equipment  incurred 
in  attendance  at  the  summer  schools,  or  in 
connection  with  any  of  the  duties  imposed 


22         An  Army  of  the  People 

upon  officers  or  enlisted  men  of  the  volunteer 
forces,  would  be  met  by  the  United  States. 

As  these  circulars  gave  to  the  individual 
applicant  all  of  the  information  necessary  for 
him  in  making  his  decision,  so  the  blank  form 
or  descriptive  list  furnished  him  by  the  Post- 
master enabled  him  to  give  the  military 
authorities  all  of  the  personal  information 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  enroll,  clothe, 
and  equip  him  in  the  summer  camps,  and  sub- 
sequently in  the  National  Volunteer  Army. 
The  blank  form  was  filled  in  and  signed  by  the 
applicant  and  attested  by  two  taxpayers  of 
his  neighborhood  who  vouched  for  the  general 
accuracy  of  the  applicant's  entries  and  also 
for  certain  general  information  relative  to 
his  character  and  history.  In  the  case  of  a 
minor  applicant  the  signature  of  the  consent- 
ing parent  or  guardian  was  also  entered. 
The  entire  document  was  concluded  with  an 
affirmation  of  obligation  to  serve  the  United 
States  in  the  event  of  any  war  which  might 
occur  within  three  years,  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  summer  camps. 


The  Great  Enrollment  23 

A  special  form  was  prepared  for  applicants 
for  service  in  the  cavalry,  field  artillery,  and 
other  branches  of  the  mounted  service. 
Under  the  terms  of  the  National  Defense  Act, 
special  inducements  were  offered  to  young 
horsemen  who  were  able  to  provide  themselves 
with  horses  suitable  for  cavalry  or  artillery. 
In  the  case  of  such  volunteers,  the  Govern- 
ment engaged  itself  to  transport  their  private 
mounts  to  and  from  the  camps  and  maneuvers, 
to  purchase  them  at  a  stipulated  valuation 
in  the  event  of  war,  and  to  pay  to  the  owner 
a  cash  allowance  in  commutation  of  forage 
for  the  full  period  of  his  service.  In  short, 
the  Government  called  for  mounted  volun- 
teers, and  in  turn  it  undertook  the  *'keep" 
of  their  horses.  This  provision  was  in  full 
harmony  with  the  general  objects  of  the 
statute.  It  proposed  to  create  a  great  army 
of  volunteers  and  to  train  them  in  peace.  It 
therefore  proposed  to  take  its  cavalry  and 
other  mounted  soldiers  from  the  great  mass 
of  young  men  who  are  already  natural  horse- 
men and  who  know  the  horse  and  how  to  care 


24        An  Army  of  the  People 

for  him.  For  this  purpose  the  postmaster 
distributed  a  special  circular  giving  the 
specifications  for  cavalry  and  artillery  horses 
and  applicants  for  the  mounted  service  were 
required  to  give  certain  additional  in- 
formation on  their  application  blanks.  In 
connection  with  the  provisions  of  the  law 
relating  to  the  mounted  services,  it  may  be 
said  that  the  Government  protected  itself 
from  unnecessary  expense  and  inconvenience 
in  rail  transportation  by  declining  to  accept 
cavalry  recruits  in  any  community  unless 
there  were  a  sufficient  number  in  the  local 
group  to  justify  the  shipment  of  its  horses 
in  car-load  lots.  In  order  to  meet  this  re- 
quirement, it  was  necessary  for  candidates 
for  the  mounted  service  to  organize  them- 
selves into  groups  of  at  least  ten  men  resid- 
ing within  one  day's  march  of  a  common 
shipping  point. 

The  widespread  interest  aroused  by  the 
President's  proclamation  has  scarcely  ever 
been  equalled  by  any  event  in  time  of  peace. 
From  the  day  of  its  publication  in  the  post 


The  Great  Enrollment  25 

office  it  was  the  main  topic  of  conversation 
in  every  village  in  the  land.  The  great 
problem  of  national  defense,  from  being  a 
vague  and  intangible  thing,  was  brought  home 
to  every  family.  Many  young  men  were 
ready  to  file  their  application  papers  with  the 
postmaster  at  once,  but  in  most  cases  they 
were  checked  by  the  cautious  restraint  of 
cool-headed  fathers  and  mothers.  There 
was  a  burst  of  enthusiasm  at  first  and  then 
a  period  of  that  careful  deliberation  which  is 
characteristic  of  our  people  in  facing  great 
public  issues.  In  each  community  men 
gathered  together  and  listened  to  the  veter- 
ans who,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  had 
enrolled  for  a  great  war  and  who  had  gone 
to  the  front  untrained,  unorganized,  and 
unled. 

The  speech  of  one  of  these  old  soldiers 
found  its  way  into  the  papers  and  has  been 
preserved  as  characteristic  of  the  period  of 
the  first  enrollment. 

"Boys,"  said  he,  ''you  have  asked  me  to 
talk  to  you  about  this  new  volunteer  law  and 


26         An  Army  of  the  People 

to  advise  you  about  enlisting.  When  I  first 
heard  about  it,  I  didn't  like  it.  It  wasn't 
like  the  kind  of  enlisting  we  did  here  in  this 
village  fifty-five  years  ago.  I  was  twenty 
years  old  then,  and  I  enlisted.  We  were  not 
enlisting  for  a  war  that  hadn't  come  yet. 
We  were  enlisting  for  the  war.  It  was  already 
here.  We  raised  a  company  here  in  the 
county  and  less  than  a  third  of  them  ever 
came  back  again.  Some  of  them  were  killed 
in  action.  Some  of  them  died  of  wounds. 
Most  of  them  died  of  preventable  camp  dis- 
eases. Many  of  those  who  died  might  have 
gone  on  fighting  to  the  end  if  our  officers  had 
known  their  business.  I  know  because  I 
was  an  officer  myself.  The  day  we  enlisted, 
we  elected  the  best  fellow  in  our  company  as 
our  captain.  He  wasn't  fit  to  post  a  corporal's 
guard,  but  how  could  we  know  it  then  ?  One 
man  in  our  ranks  became  a  famous  soldier. 
He  came  out  of  the  war  a  brigadier-general 
of  volunteers.  But  he  marched  away  from 
here  in  the  rear  rank  and  I  was  surprised 
when  they  made  him  a  corporal. 


The  Great  Enrollment  27 

"I  hope  to  God  we'll  never  have  a  war 
again,  and  that  you  will  never  see  it.  If  I 
thought  keeping  out  of  this  new  volunteer 
army  would  keep  you  out  of  war,  I'd  say 
don't  enlist.  But  it  won't  keep  you  out  if 
war  comes.  When  the  call  comes  you'll 
volunteer  as  we  did  nearly  sixty  years  ago. 
The  only  question  is  whether  you  are  going 
green  and  unprepared  as  we  went,  or  whether 
you  will  go  with  some  knowledge  of  disci- 
pline and  a  soldier's  business.  I'm  not  argu- 
ing that  these  Government  camps  will  make 
you  veterans  in  one  summer.  They  can't 
do  that.  The  best  instructors  from  the 
regular  army  can't  do  that,  but  they  can 
turn  you  from  raw  recruits  into  pretty  good, 
self-rehant  soldiers.  We  had  to  get  that 
training  and  be  shot  at  at  the  same  time.  It 
was  a  good  thing  the  fellows  on  the  other 
side  were  as  raw  as  we  were.  That  was  the 
only  thing  that  saved  us. 

' '  But  if  you  ever  go  to  a  war  it  will  not  be 
the  kind  of  a  war  that  we  went  to.  You  can 
put  it  down  that  if  Uncle  Sam  ever  goes  to 


28         An  Army  of  the  People 

war  again,  it  will  not  be  to  fight  raw  volun- 
teers, but  trained  soldiers. 

*'But  I  won't  advise  you.  This  is  to  be  a 
volunteer  army  and  each  man  must  decide 
for  himself.  But  I  will  say  this,  that  three 
of  my  grandsons  are  going  and  I  am  glad  of 
it,  and  if  their  granddaddy  wasn't  a  little 
beyond  the  age  limit  he'd  go  himself." 

For  a  time  there  was  the  same  hesitation 
to  enter  the  new  volunteers  that  has  inter- 
fered with  the  development  of  the  organized 
militia.  Many  young  men  seemed  to  have 
the  idea  that  the  new  force,  like  the  militia, 
was  to  be  a  sort  of  constabulary  to  be  called 
out  to  support  the  police  power  of  the  several 
States  in  periods  of  local  disorder.  This  bade 
fair  for  a  time  to  discourage  enlistment,  until 
it  became  apparent  from  the  terms  of  the 
law  that  the  new  force  could  not  be  used  for 
that  purpose.  The  statute  expressly  pre- 
scribed that  the  national  volunteers  could 
not  be  mobilized  except  when  war  was  im- 
minent or  in  other  grave  emergency  spe- 
cifically proclaimed  by  Congress.     Disorders 


The  Great  Enrollment  29 

within  the  borders  of  a  State  were  to  be  met 
by  such  police  or  constabulary  forces  as  each 
State  might,  in  its  wisdom,  provide.  And  if 
any  State  should  call  upon  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment for  the  aid  authorized  by  the  Con- 
stitution, this  aid  was  to  be  furnished  from  the 
paid  regular  army.  In  short,  the  National 
Volunteers  were  to  be  trained  to  defend  the 
country  in  war  and  could  be  used  only  for 
war.  In  time  of  peace  its  members  would  be 
lost  in  the  body  of  the  people,  but  on  the 
threat  of  war,  each  man  would  have  his 
appointed  place  in  the  great  organized  war 
host  of  the  nation,  which  would  spring  into 
being  and  begin  to  move  toward  the  point 
of  danger  within  twenty-four  hours  of  the 
first  alarm. 

But  how  many  would  enroll?  As  the  first 
of  April  approached,  that  question  attracted 
widespread  interest  not  only  throughout 
the  country  but  especially  in  the  War  De- 
partment, where  plans  were  being  made  for 
the  first  summer  camps.  Must  the  Govern- 
ment provide  for  fifty  thousand  volunteer 


30        An  Army  of  the  People 

students  or  a  million?  This  question  was 
the  subject  of  much  interesting  speculation 
as  the  following  quotation  from  one  of  our 
popular  weeklies  will  show. 

"In  the  year  191 5  over  nine  hundred 
thousand  American  boys  entered  their  nine- 
teenth year.  In  the  same  year  there  were 
about  nine  million  American  young  men 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty.  It 
is  to  this  host  of  potential  citizen  soldiery 
that  the  National  Defense  Act  extends  its 
invitation.  At  the  first  passage  of  the  law 
we  were  skeptical  as  to  its  prospects.  We 
feared  that  not  enough  would  come  to  assure 
the  success  of  the  new  American  Volunteer 
System.  But  as  the  enrollment  progresses, 
as  occasional  unofficial  returns  slip  in  from 
various  communities,  a  fear  of  another  kind 
arises.  Will  the  Government  be  able  to 
provide  facilities  for  the  education  and  train- 
ing of  so  vast  a  school?  If  one  young  man 
in  nine  should  respond,  we  would  have  one 
million  recruits  to  train. 

"But  while  the  movement  is  widely  popular 


The  Great  Enrollment  31 

and  a  successful  enrollment  seems  assured,  a 
careful  analysis  of  population  statistics  tends 
to  justify  a  much  lower  estimate.  The  sys- 
tem makes  its  largest  appeal  to  the  boy  who 
is  just  out  of  school  and  who  is  not  yet  bur- 
dened with  the  cares  of  business  or  family 
life.  Most  men  of  twenty-nine  or  thirty 
years,  though  they  are  eligible  under  the  new 
law  and  though  many  of  them  will  want  to 
enroll,  will  be  restrained  by  other  obligations. 
We  shall  therefore  probably  find  that  the 
enrollment  will  be  a  maximum  for  young  men 
of  the  minimum  age  of  nineteen  and  that  it 
will  fall  off  for  each  succeeding  year  of  age, 
at  first  gradually  and  then  rapidly.  Some 
older  men  will  enroll  but  they  will  be  men 
whose  natural  military  tastes  have  been  con- 
firmed by  prior  military  service  and  who 
therefore  enter  the  volunteer  army  as  the 
logical  candidates  for  positions  as  officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers.  And  this  is  as  it 
should  be,  for  it  is  the  young  unmarried  man 
in  the  first  vigor  of  adventurous  youth  who 
should  first  stand  ready  for  national  defense." 


32        An  Army  of  the  People 

It  was  not  until  the  tenth  of  April  that 
all  of  the  applications  were  received  and 
classified  by  the  War  Department.  It  was 
then  found  that  the  full  enrollment  for  the 
first  summer's  encampments  were  as  follows : 

Volunteers  for  Infantry  204,337 

Volunteers  for  Cavalry  27,163 

Volunteers  for  Field  Artillery  34»364 

Volunteers  for  Engineers  7,136 
Volunteers  for  Signal  Corps 

(including  aeroplane  service)  6,723 

Volunteers  for  Hospital  Corps  15,573 
Volunteers  for  Service  Corps 

(including  automobile  and  motor- 
truck service)  1 1 427 


Total  306,723 

In  addition  to  the  above  enrollment  for 
the  National  Volunteer  Field  Army,  there 
were  27,023  applicants  for  enrollment  in  the 
summer  camps  for  Coast  Artillery.  Candi- 
dates were  enrolled  according  to  their  pref- 
erence as  to  arm  of  service,  but,  in  order  to 


The  Great  Enrollment  33 

assure  a  proper  balance,  the  Government 
reserved  the  right  to  transfer  volunteers 
from  one  arm  to  the  other  as  special  aptitude 
should  be  demonstrated  in  the  camps  of 
instruction. 


V. 

THE  CALL  FOR  OFFICERS 

The  enrollment  described  in  the  preceding 
chapter  was  the  general  enrollment  for  service 
as  enlisted  men  in  the  new  volunteer  army. 
But  as  the  National  Defense  Act  was  based 
on  the  idea  of  utilizing  all  of  the  potential 
military  resources  of  the  nation,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  special  arrangements  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  those  citizens  who  were 
already  more  or  less  prepared  for  service 
as  commissioned  officers.  Under  the  terms 
of  the  Act,  such  specially  prepared  citizens 
were  invited  to  attend  the  summer  camps 
of  instruction  with  a  view  to  qualifying 
for  commissions  in  the  National  Volun- 
teers. This  great  and  important  body  of 
potential  officer  material  was  widely  scat- 
tered   throughout    the     country     and     in- 

34 


The  Call  for  Officers  35 

eluded     the     following    important     special 
classes : 

1.  Former  officers  of  the  regular  army  or 
volunteers,  now  in  civil  life  after  honor- 
able discharge  from  the  service. 

2.  Graduates  of  West  Point  in  civil  life. 

3.  Officers  of  the  Organized  Militia,  sub- 
ject to  the  consent  of  their  proper  State 
authorities. 

4.  Former  officers  of  the  Organized  Mili- 
tia. 

5 .  Graduates  of  accredited  military  schools 
and  of  universities  and  colleges  having 
military  departments  officially  recognized 
by  the  War  Department. 

6.  Persons  who  have  successfully  passed 
the  examinations  for  qualification  for 
commission  in  the  volunteer  service  as 
heretofore  provided  by  law. 

7.  Honorably  discharged  non-commis- 
sioned officers  of  the  regular  army,  sub- 
ject to  proper  educational  tests. 

8.  Honorably    discharged    enlisted    men 


36         An  Army  of  the  People 

of  the  regular  army  who  during  their 
military  service  had  passed  the  pre- 
scribed examination  for  commission. 

9.  Electrical,  mechanical,  and  mining  en- 
gineers specially  qualified  for  commis- 
sion in  the  volunteer  coast  artillery, 
signal  corps,  and  engineers. 

10.  Physicians  and  surgeons  desiring 
commissioned  service  in  the  volunteer 
medical  corps. 

It  was  provided  in  the  Act  that  accepted 
applicants  from  the  above  described  classes 
should  be  received  at  the  first  summer  camps 
as  student  officers  of  volunteers,  and  that 
they  should  be  available  for  duty  as  assist- 
ant instructors  and  drill  masters  of  enlisted 
personnel,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
regular  army  officers  in  charge  of  the  camps. 

It  was  also  provided  that  the  body  of  stu- 
dent officers  in  each  camp  should  be  formed 
into  a  school  of  application  for  practical 
training  in  the  field  duties  of  commissioned 
officers.     This  school  of  application  was  to 


The  Call  for  Officers  2>7 

be  divided  into  appropriate  classes  depending 
upon  the  provisional  military  rank  of  the 
students  and  their  respective  arms  of  the 
service.  It  was  announced  as  prescribed  by 
the  National  Defense  Act  that,  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  first  summer's  camps  the  enlisted 
men  completing  the  course  would  be  organ- 
ized into  the  formal  military  units  of  the 
National  Volunteer  Army,  and  that  the 
officers  for  these  units  would  be  appointed 
by  the  President  according  to  their  qualifica- 
tions as  determined  in  the  summer  camps 
and  the  schools  of  application.  It  was  also 
provided  that  in  appointments  in  any  grade, 
qualified  officers  of  the  same  grade  in  the 
organized  militia  or  of  former  volunteer 
organizations  should,  so  far  as  practicable, 
be  appointed  to  the  same  grade  in  the  new 
volunteer  service,  provided  that  such  ap- 
pointee should  reside  in  the  territorial  limits 
actually  occupied  by  the  enlisted  men  of  his 
command,  and  provided  that  such  appoint- 
ment in  the  case  of  militia  officers  should  be 
accepted  with  the  formal  consent  of  the  State 


38         An  Army  of  the  People 

authorities.  It  was  also  provided  that  after 
the  appointment  and  assignment  of  the  offi- 
cers entitled  to  higher  rank  by  virtue  of  prior 
commissioned  service,  the  remaining  officers 
of  the  National  Volunteer  force  should  be 
selected  from  the  remainder  of  the  student 
officers  and  the  most  proficient  enlisted  re- 
cruits according  to  their  qualifications  as 
determined  in  the  summer  camps  and  schools 
of  appHcation. 

The  spirit  of  the  law  governing  the  appoint- 
ment of  National  Volunteer  officers  was  sim- 
ply this :  As  in  our  past  military  history,  the 
highest  military  rank  should  be  open  to  the 
American  Volunteer  Officer,  but  no  man 
should  be  intrusted  with  the  command  of 
American  Volunteers  unless  he  has  prepared 
himself  for  that  responsibility  in  time  of 
peace.  The  law  very  properly  recognized 
the  claims  of  officers  who  had  already  exer- 
cised military  command,  and  accepted  them 
as  presumptively  entitled  to  a  similar  rank 
in  the  new  force.  But  qualification  to  com- 
mand a  particular  military  unit  is  a  question 


The  Call  for  Officers  39 

of  fact  which  can  be  determined  as  any  other 
question  of  fact.  Whether  an  alleged  major 
of  infantry  is  a  major  of  infantry  in  fact,  can 
be  determined  with  absolute  precision.  A 
major  of  infantry  m  fact  is  an  officer  who 
can  command  and  lead  a  battalion  of  in- 
fantry in  the  varied  situations  of  the  field ;  a 
man  who  is  qualified  to  instruct,  train,  and 
command  the  respect  of  all  the  officers  and 
men  who  compose  a  battalion  of  infantry. 
Whether  a  man  can  handle  a  battalion  of 
infantry  can  therefore  be  determined  just  as 
easily  as  whether  he  can  ride  a  horse  or  run 
a  motor  boat  or  an  automobile,  and  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way — that  is,  by  letting  him 
try  it  in  the  presence  of  competent  judges. 
And  so  in  the  case  of  Major  X.  of  the  Kansas 
Militia  Infantry  the  law  was  just  both  to 
the  Major  and  to  the  higher  military  inter- 
ests of  the  nation.  It  invited  Major  X.  to 
come  and  be  tested  as  a  Major  of  Infantry. 
It  did  not  propose  to  make  this  test  offhand 
and  without  time  for  practice  and  reason- 
able preparation.     It  invited  the  Major  to 


40        An  Army  of  the  People 

attend  a  summer  military  camp  to  be  held  on 
the  Fort  Riley  Military  Reservation.  It 
accepted  him  as  a  student  officer  with  the 
provisional  rank  of  major  given  him  by  his 
State.  It  gave  him  practice  as  an  assistant 
instructor  in  training  the  young  Kansas 
recruits  assembled  in  the  camp.  It  received 
him  into  a  field  officer's  school  of  application, 
similar  to  the  Field  Officer's  School  provided 
at  Fort  Leavenworth  for  the  training  of  field 
officers  of  the  regular  army.  It  gave  him  prac- 
tical exercises  on  map  and  ground  through 
which  he  was  able  to  train  his  tactical  judg- 
ment and  his  capacity  to  make  the  decisions 
and  issue  the  field  orders  appropriate  to  his 
rank.  And  at  the  end  of  the  summer  he  was 
given  an  opportunity  to  handle  a  battalion 
of  his  arm  at  drill,  on  the  march,  in  camp,  and 
in  a  series  of  typical  combat  situations.  At 
the  end  of  this  test  the  umpires  knew,  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  battalion  knew,  and 
Major  X.  himself  knew  whether  he  was  in 
fact  a  major  of  infantry  of  sufficient  skill, 
training,  and  moral  force  to  be  intrusted  with 


The  Call  for  Officers  41 

the  command  of  six  hundred  young  Kansans 
who  were  volunteering  to  risk  their  Hves,  if 
need  be,  in  defense  of  their  country.  If  he 
quaUfied  in  this  test,  it  did  not  follow  that 
Major  X.  had  mastered  every  element  of  the 
military  art.  There  was  still  a  great  field 
for  further  endeavor  before  he  could  feel 
himself  fully  qualified  for  the  final  test  of 
battle,  but  if  he  failed  in  this  simple  and  ob- 
vious peace  test,  it  was  conclusively  shown 
that  he  could  not  but  fail  in  the  more  ex- 
acting test  of  war.  And  so  if  he  qualified 
he  was  invited  to  enter  the  National  Vol- 
unteer Field  Army  as  a  major  of  infantry, 
and  if  he  failed  he  made  way  for  some  other 
student  officer  who  had  been  measured  and 
not  found  wanting.  Thus  the  Govern- 
ment recognized  the  Major's  presumptive 
claim  to  the  command  of  a  battalion  of  in- 
fantry, but  it  balanced  this  claim  against  the 
more  imperative  claim  of  the  six  hundred 
young  Americans  in  the  battalion  who  had 
a  right  to  expect  trained  leadership  in 
war. 


42         An  Army  of  the  People 

The  President's  regulations,  issued  pur- 
suant to  provisions  of  the  National  Defense 
Act,  provided  that,  so  far  as  practicable,  each 
tactical  unit  of  the  National  Volunteers  should 
be  ofhcered  by  qualified  officers  residing 
within  the  territorial  limits  actually  contain- 
ing the  homes  of  the  members  of  the  force. 
If,  for  example,  one  of  the  counties  inhabited 
by  the  members  of  an  Illinois  National  Volun- 
teer regiment  should  also  be  the  home  of  a 
colonel  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard  who 
had  qualified  as  a  colonel  of  National  Volun- 
teers, then  that  colonel  was  the  logical  ap- 
pointee as  colonel  of  the  regiment.  But  if 
no  qualified  colonel  resided  in,  or  conveni- 
ently near,  the  regimental  district,  the  Presi- 
dent was  authorized  by  law  to  detail  the 
army  officer  acting  as  regimental  inspector- 
instructor  on  temporary  duty  as  colonel, 
until  such  time  as  the  normal  course  of  train- 
ing of  the  regiment  should  develop  a  quali- 
fied officer  for  that  grade  and  responsibility. 
The  intent  of  the  law  was  primarily  to  meet 
the  first  requirement  of  military  efficiency, 


The  Call  for  Officers  43 

that  competent  leaders  must  be  provided 
for  all  organized  tactical  units.  But  it 
was  the  policy  of  the  law,  with  certain  ne- 
cessary exceptions  in  time  of  peace,  to  open 
the  avenues  of  promotion  freely  to  quali- 
fied volunteer  officers.  The  historical  tra- 
dition that  the  highest  command  must  be 
open  to  citizen  soldiers  of  energy,  ability, 
and  genius  was  carefully  preserved.  These 
two  necessary  conditions  were  met  by  the 
clauses  permitting  the  appointment  of 
selected  regular  officers  to  command  new- 
ly organized  units  until,  after  a  reasona- 
ble period  of  training,  competent  leaders 
should  be  developed  within  the  organization 
itself. 

The  enrollment  of  authorized  student 
officers  for  the  first  summer's  camps  and 
school  of  application  resulted  as  follows : 

Former  officers  of  the  regular  army  or 

volunteers 7^7 

Graduates  from  West  Point  in  civil 

life 97 


44        An  Army  of  the  People 

Officers  of  the  Organized  Militia 3>427 

Former    officers    of    the    Organized 

Militia 3423 

Graduates     of     accredited     military 

schools 8,270 

Persons  qualified  by  law  for  volunteer 

commissions 23 

Honorably  discharged  non-commis- 
sioned officers  of  the  regular 
army 943 

Qualified  enlisted  candidates  for  com- 
mission   37 

Practical  railroad  men,  candidates  for 
commission  in  the  volunteer  railway 
corps 423 

Physicians  and  surgeons,  candidates 
for  commission  in  the  volunteer 
medical  corps 2,243 

Civil,  electrical,  and  mining  engineers, 
candidates  for  commission  in  the 
volunteer  signal  corps 423 

Similar  technical  experts,  candidates 
for  commission  in  the  volunteer 
coast  artillery  corps 847 


The  Call  for  Officers  45 

Similar  technical  experts,  candidates 
for  commission  in  the  volunteer 
engineers 627 

Total 21,570 


/ 


VI. 

THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 

The  passage  of  the  National  Defense  Act 
placed  an  enormous  responsibility  upon  the 
War  Department.  In  enacting  the  new  law 
Congress  had  already  done  its  share.  It 
had  created  the  legal  powers  necessary  to 
carry  the  new  military  policy  into  effect,  and 
had  conferred  these  powers  upon  the  execu- 
tive branch  of  the  Government.  The  success 
of  the  National  Volunteer  System  now  de- 
pended upon  the  success  of  the  first  summer's 
encampments,  and  that  must  necessarily 
depend  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  preparatory 
measures  adopted  by  the  War  Department. 
The  methods  adopted  for  the  first  enroll- 
ment of  officers  and  enlisted  men  have  already 
been  described.  This  enrollment  alone  in- 
volved preliminary  work  of  no  small  magni- 

46 


The  War  Department  at  Work  47 

tude.  It  was  necessary  first  to  place  the 
fullest  information  in  the  hands  of  the  young 
men  of  the  country  and  to  receive  back  the 
individual  enrollment  blanks  and  descriptive 
lists  in  time  to  locate,  organize,  and  equip  the 
instruction  camps  before  the  beginning  of 
summer. 

THE  CURRICULUM  OF  THE   SUMMER   SCHOOLS 

While  the  enrollment  was  in  progress,  a  board 
of  officers  was  detailed  by  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  prepare  standardized  courses  of  in- 
struction for  the  summer  schools  and  to  pre- 
pare regulations  for  their  government  and 
disciphne.  Fortunately  it  was  recognized 
that  this  was  one  of  the  most  important 
tasks  ever  assigned  a  body  of  American  Army 
Officers.  It  was  not  merely  a  military  prob- 
lem of  far  reaching  importance.  It  was  one 
of  the  greatest  educational  enterprises  ever 
undertaken . 

The  Government  had  engaged  to  open  a 
school  for  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
young  men  on  the  first  day  of  July.     The 


48        An  Army  of  the  People 

success  of  this  school  and  the  future  of  the 
American  Volunteer  System  to  a  large  extent 
depended  upon  the  wisdom  of  this  board. 
The  problem  was  to  prescribe  the  maximum 
amount  of  practical  military  instruction  that 
is  possible  in  a  ninety-days  course  of  training. 
It  must  involve  the  drill  of  the  several  arms, 
the  practical  arts  of  camping,  marching,  and 
cooking  in  the  field.  It  must  involve  in- 
struction in  personal  hygiene  and  field  sanita- 
tion. It  must  involve  practical  training  in 
the  care  and  use  of  the  soldier's  arms  and 
equipments.  For  the  infantry  and  cavalry 
it  must  include  target  practice  and  fire  disci- 
pline. For  the  infantry  it  must  include  further 
practice  in  the  control  of  collective  rifle  fire. 
For  the  cavalry  and  field  artillery  it  must 
include  the  training  and  care  of  the  horse  as 
well  as  the  man,  and  for  the  field  artillery  it 
must  include  target  practice  with  field  guns 
of  the  modern  quick-firing  type.  For  all 
arms  it  must  include  tactical  and  combat 
exercises  on  varied  ground,  including  recon- 
naissance, security,  and  exercises  in  attack 


The  War  Department  at  Work  49 

and  defense.  All  of  these  and  much  more 
must  be  imparted  to  the  troops  within  the 
brief  period  of  one  summer,  while  special 
courses  in  tactics,  troop  leading,  and  field  ad- 
ministration must  be  provided  for  the  officers* 
schools  of  application.  In  addition  to  these 
courses  for  the  combatant  arms,  similar 
courses  of  instruction  must  also  be  provided 
for  the  supply  corps,  the  sanitary  service, 
and  other  non-combatants. 

It  was  recognized  that  the  limited  time 
available  for  instruction  should  be  entirely 
consumed  in  instruction,  and  that  every 
detail  of  organization  and  method  should  be 
perfected  and  standardized  before  the  recruits 
were  assembled.  Definite  schedules  of  work 
must  be  provided  for  each  arm  of  the  service. 
In  order  to  cover  the  necessary  field  in  the 
limited  time,  there  must  be  a  progressive 
program  of  strenuous  and  exacting  work, 
but  through  variety  and  the  use  of  the  most 
practical  methods  it  must  be  made  interest- 
ing to  all  young  men  possessing  the  true 

soldier  spirit.     Nor  were  the  requirements  of 
4 


50         An  Army  of  the  People 

amusement  and  recreation  to  be  omitted  in 
this  comprehensive  educational  program. 
The  volunteer  recruit  was  to  be  given  an 
honest  day's  work  each  day.  But  after  the 
day's  work  he  was  to  be  given  every  facility 
for  athletics  and  open-air  sports.  This  idea 
was  to  receive  special  consideration  in  the 
selection  of  camp  sites  in  attractive  regions 
so  that  the  nation's  students  could  combine 
their  military  duty  with  the  benefits  of  a 
summer's  outing. 

METHODS   OF   DISCIPLINE 

It  was  apparent  at  once  that  the  methods 
of  discipline  appropriate  for  summer  schools 
for  volunteers  must  be  quite  different  from 
those  developed  in  the  garrison  life  of  the 
regular  army.  There  is  a  discipline  of  pro- 
hibition and  a  discipline  of  strenuous  occu- 
pation. Where  men  are  busy  from  morning 
until  night  in  useful  and  absorbing  work,  the 
problem  of  discipline  solves  itself.  Where 
men  must  have  many  hours  of  idleness  or 


The  War  Department  at  Work  51 

must  find  their  employment  in  an  oft  repeated 
routine  of  perfunctory  drills,  the  psycho- 
logical stimulus  of  progressive  interest  is 
lacking  both  to  officers  and  men.  In  the  one 
case  discipline  is  inherent  in  the  work  and 
grows  with  it,  in  the  other  case  it  does  not 
develop  in  the  work  but  must  be  imposed 
upon  it.  Officers  of  the  regular  army  are 
all  familiar  with  the  difference  in  the  conduct 
of  men  in  the  field  and  the  conduct  of  the 
same  men  in  a  monotonous  garrison.  When 
the  hike  is  on  with  something  new  and  vital 
to  see  and  do,  there  is  little  business  for  the 
court-martial.  The  proper  discipline  for 
the  national  volunteers  was  therefore  recog- 
nized to  be  the  natural  discipline  of  active 
strenuous  field  training.  Given  a  body  of 
young  men  who  volunteer  to  learn  a  useful 
art,  a  corps  of  competent  officers  to  lead  them, 
and  a  varied  and  absorbing  course  of  instruc- 
tion, no  elaborate  system  of  coercion  or  pun- 
ishment is  necessary.  Discipline  becomes 
the  necessary  by-product  of  such  a  course. 
It  grows  on   the  drill  ground  and  on   the 


52         An  Army  of  the  People 

march,  in  the  striving  for  skill  and  in  manly 
pride  in  the  daily  test  of  endurance,  and 
above  all  in  the  true  soldier's  confidence  in  a 
wise  and  capable  leader. 

Among  a  large  number  of  volunteers  some 
misfits  must  be  expected.  In  every  camp 
there  would  be  some  weaklings  and  milksops, 
some  dullards  incapable  of  subordination, 
some  natural  Ishmaelites  who  cannot  keep 
in  step  in  any  team.  There  would  also  be 
some  hopelessly  vicious  and  perverted  char- 
acters. With  these  the  camp  authorities 
would  have  no  time  to  deal.  Ninety  days 
is  too  short  a  time  for  developing  either  a 
nursery  or  a  reformatory.  Prompt  and 
simple  disciplinary  measures  must  be  pro- 
vided, particularly  to  check  first  offenses,  but, 
as  a  general  rule,  "quitters"  would  simply 
be  allowed  to  quit  and  carry  their  record  of 
failure  home  with  them.  No  young  Ameri- 
can who  is  worth  the  cost  of  training  would 
be  willing  to  take  a  discharge  like  that. 

Discharge  without  honor  was  thus  accepted 
as  the  sufficient  basis  of  the  system  of  punish- 


The  War  Department  at  Work   53 

ment.  The  corresponding  principle  of  re- 
ward lay  in  a  just  and  sensible  system  of 
promotion.  For  even  the  highest  military 
rank  lay  open  to  citizen  soldiers  of  character 
and  ability.  This  was  one  of  the  underlying 
principles  of  the  National  Defense  Act. 

THE      SELECTION      OF      INSPECTOR-INSTRUCTORS 
FROM  THE  REGULAR  ARMY 

While  the  curriculum  board  was  dealing 
with  the  courses  of  instruction  and  discipline, 
another  board  of  officers  was  engaged  on  the 
equally  important  task  of  investigating  the 
qualifications  of  army  officers  for  detail  with 
the  new  force  of  volunteers.  In  some  respects 
this  task  was  of  even  greater  practical  im- 
portance than  the  preparation  of  a  sound 
curriculum  and  system  of  discipline. 

A  good  policy  is  of  great  importance,  but 
even  the  best  policy  must  fail  in  the  hands 
of  incompetent  or  unsympathetic  agents. 
It  was  therefore  recognized  that  only  officers 
of  the  highest  character,  ability,  and  industry 


54         An  Army  of  the  People 

should  be  detailed  for  duty  with  the  volun- 
teers, and  that  details  for  any  particular  duty 
with  the  volunteers  should  be  restricted  to 
officers  of  recognized  qualification  and  apti- 
tude for  that  particular  duty.  It  was  appar- 
ent that  a  corps  of  competent  instructors 
and  staff  officers  could  be  found  among 
the  officers  of  the  army,  but  it  was  quite 
obvious  that  all  army  officers  were  not  adap- 
ted for  all  of  the  numerous  tasks  to  be  per- 
formed in  the  volunteer  service. 

The  board  of  officers  was  therefore  directed 
to  examine  the  efficiency  records  of  all  army 
officers  with  special  reference  to  their  quali- 
fications and  aptitudes  for  volunteer  service. 
It  was  instructed,  in  the  case  of  each  officer, 
to  specify  what  duties,  if  any,  he  was  qualified 
to  perform,  and  for  each  class  of  duties  to 
construct  a  list  of  officers  certified  to  be  eli- 
gible and  competent  to  perform  those  duties. 
The  labors  of  this  board  would  thus  result 
in  preparing  eligibility  lists  to  be  used  by  the 
President  in  the  selection  of  the  first  corps 
of  officers  and  instructors  for  the  new  volun- 


The  War  Department  at  Work   55 

teer  army.  This  task,  though  of  great  im- 
portance, was  not  difficult  when  approached 
by  common-sense  methods.  For  example, 
it  was  known  that  the  volunteers  would  re- 
quire an  inspector-instructor  for  each  in- 
fantry battalion.  As  a  first  step  the  board 
found  no  difficulty  in  defining  the  qualifica- 
tions necessary  in  such  an  officer.  He  must 
be  an  expert  in  infantry  drill  and  in  modern 
infantry  tactics;  he  must  be  qualified  to 
instruct  and  lead  each  and  all  of  the  officers 
and  men  comprising  a  war  strength  battalion 
of  infantry.  He  must  possess  the  soldierly 
character  and  moral  qualities  that  would 
enable  him  to  lead  through  the  power  of 
example.  He  must  be  qualified  in  every  way 
to  command  and  lead  a  battalion  of  infantry 
in  peace  or  war.  Having  established  a 
measure  of  the  task  in  this  way,  the  board 
of  officers  then  prepared  a  list  of  officers  certi- 
fied by  them  to  be  qualified  for  the  task.  In 
each  list  the  names  were  arranged  in  the 
order  of  army  rank,  with  brief  references  to 
their    special    qualifications    in    each    case. 


56        An  Army  of  the  People 

Similar  lists  were  prepared  for  inspector- 
instructors  of  infantry  regiments  and  brigades 
and  for  corresponding  details  in  the  cavalry, 
artillery,  and  all  other  branches  of  the  service. 


VII. 

THE  VOLUNTEER  ARMY — GENERAL  ORDERS 

NO.  I 

On  the  tenth  day  of  April,  191 6,  the  first 
year's  enrollment  was  completed.  It  com- 
prised the  names  of  333,746  recruits  and 
2 1 ,570  candidates  for  commission.  By  classi- 
fication of  the  enrollment  blanks  these  men 
were  easily  grouped  by  arm  of  the  service 
and  their  geographical  distribution  was  fully 
revealed. 

On  May  ist  the  President,  as  Commander- 
in-Chief,  published  General  Orders  No.  i,  of 
the  National  Volunteer  Army.  In  this  order, 
as  authorized  in  the  National  Defense  Act, 
he  organized  the  new  force  into  fifteen  in- 
fantry divisions,  three  cavalry  divisions,  and 
a  volunteer  coast  artillery  corps  of  216  com- 
panies,  provisionally   organized  for  assign- 

57 


58         An  Army  of  the  People 

ment  of  officers  into  six  brigades  of  three 
regiments  each. 

For  each  division  of  the  field  army  he  se- 
lected a  division  commander  and  division 
staff  from  specially  qualified  officers  of  the 
regular  army.  He  also  detailed  a  regular 
officer  as  inspector-instructor  for  each  bat- 
talion, squadron,  regiment,  and  brigade  of  the 
field  army,  and  for  each  provisional  battalion, 
regiment,  and  brigade  of  the  coast  artillery. 
Under  the  terms  of  the  National  Defense 
Act  the  detail  of  this  corps  of  army  officers' 
to  the  volunteers  created  a  corresponding 
number  of  vacancies  in  the  regular  army. 

The  order  also  prescribed,  as  specified  by 
law,  that  inspector-instructors  assigned  to 
volunteer  organizations  should  command 
such  organizations  during  the  first  summer's 
encampment  and  until  competent  volunteer 
officers  should  qualify  for  command.  After 
the  qualification  and  appointment  of  com- 

^  This  detail  comprised  8oi  inspector-instructors  for 
battalions  and  squadrons,  219  for  regiments,  and  75  for 
brigades. 


The  Volunteer  Army  59 

manding  officers  from  the  volunteers,  the 
detailed  inspector-instructors,  under  super- 
vision of  division  commanders,  were  still  to 
be  responsible  for  the  peace  administration 
and  inspection  of  their  respective  units,  the 
preservation  and  accountability  of  its  prop- 
erty and  equipment,  the  perfection  of  mobi- 
lization and  concentration  plans,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  winter  correspondence  schools 
to  be  provided  for  the  higher  military  training 
of  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers. 

This  was  in  full  harmony  with  the  policy 
of  the  Government  to  develop  commanders 
of  volunteers  from  among  the  volunteers. 
But  it  was  recognized  that  there  are  certain 
necessary  functions  of  administration,  prepa- 
ration, and  inspection  that  cannot  be 
performed  with  certainty  by  busy  civilians 
in  time  of  peace.  These  duties  were  there- 
fore assigned  to  the  division  commander, 
assisted  by  his  staff  and  the  corps  of  inspector- 
instructors  assigned  to  his  division.  By 
this  arrangement  precision  of  preparation, 
mobilization,  and  concentration  were  assured. 


6o        An  Army  of  the  People 

and  the  volunteer  officer,  being  relieved  from 
the  burden  of  routine  peace  administration 
and  property  accountability  was  enabled  to 
devote  all  of  his  available  time  to  preparation 
for  his  more  important  duties  as  a  troop 
leader  in  war. 

In  addition  to  the  corps  of  officers  detailed 
for  duty  with  the  volunteers,  the  order  also 
provided  for  the  assignment  of  selected  non- 
commissioned officers  to  serve  as  assistants 
for  the  inspector-instructors.  The  number 
so  assigned  depended  upon  the  arm  of  the 
service  and  the  requirements  of  each  tactical 
unit.  In  order  to  provide  available  non- 
commissioned officers  for  this  purpose,  the 
National  Defense  Act  had  authorized  the 
corresponding  increase  in  the  enlisted  strength 
of  the  army. 

After  publishing  the  organization  of  the  vol- 
unteer army,  the  territorial  location  of  the  sev- 
eral divisions,  and  the  assignment  of  the 
necessary  personnel  from  the  regular  army, 
General  Orders  No.  i  concluded  with  the 
general  instructions  of  the  Commander-in- 


The  Volunteer  Army  6i 

Chief.  These  were  based  upon  the  principle 
of  decentralization.  It  was  recognized  that 
the  great  pohcy  of  forming  a  national  army 
must  necessarily  break  down  under  central- 
ized control  in  the  War  Department.  Each 
division  commander  was  therefore  made  the 
responsible  agent  of  the  President  and  was 
fully  clothed  by  him  with  the  necessary  legal 
powers.  He  was  given  the  enrollment  cards 
of  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  of  his  com- 
mand. He  was  provided  with  a  corps  of 
competent  assistants,  he  was  allotted  his 
pro  rata  share  of  the  funds  appropriated  by 
Congress,  and  he  was  given  the  policy  of  the 
Government  as  embodied  in  the  regulations 
for  the  training  and  discipline  of  American 
volunteers.  The  further  orders  of  the  Presi- 
dent may  be  summed  up  in  this  brief  phrase : 
"General,  there  is  your  division,  go  and 
organize  it  and  train  it.'* 


VIII. 

AMONG    THE    VOLUNTEERS — EXTRACTS    FROM 
LIEUTENANT   BURR'S   DIARY 

A  FULL  description  of  the  detailed  organiza- 
tion of  the  National  Volunteer  Army  would 
fill  a  volume.  About  eleven  hundred  instruc- 
tor-inspectors were  now  busily  engaged  in 
preparing  for  the  summer  camps.  Each  of 
these  officers  had  his  peculiar  problem,  pecul- 
iar to  the  requirements  of  his  arm  of  the 
service,  and  peculiar  to  the  varying  conditions 
throughout  the  country.  As  an  example  of 
the  work  done  by  these  officers,  we  will  quote 
the  following  extracts  from  the  diary  of  First 
Lieutenant  Milford  Burr,  6th  Cavalry,  who 
was  detailed  for  duty  as  a  Squadron  Inspector- 
Instructor  in  the  Third  Volunteer  Cavalry 
Division. 

''May  2d. — Have  just  read  the  morning 

62 


Among  the  Volunteers         63 

paper  giving  the  organization  of  the  new 
Volunteer  Army  and  see  that  I  am  detailed 
as  Squadron  Inspector-Instructor  with  the 
Third  Volunteer  Cavalry  Division.  It  gives 
me  the  Volunteer  rank  of  Major  of  Cavalry 
without  increased  pay. 

"Have  read  the  order  again  and  find  that 
the  Third  Cavalry  Division  is  scattered  from 
Texas  to  California.  Some  dispersion  I 
should  say.  Can  we  ever  get  them  together? 
I  wonder  where  my  squadron  is. 


''May  3d. — Have  just  received  telegraphic 
orders  to  report  to  the  Division  Commander 
at  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  without  delay.  Busy 
packing  up.  Will  take  the  San  Antonio 
express  to-morrow  morning. 

''May  4th — En  route.  Have  been  reading 
the  new  regulations  for  the  volunteers  and 
find  that  I  have  my  work  cut  out  for  me.  I 
suppose  there  are  four  hundred  cowboys  out 
there  in  the  desert  somewhere  waiting  for  me. 


64         An  Army  of  the  People 

I  am  to  round  them  up  and  make  four  troops 
of  cavalry  out  of  them  in  ninety  days.  I 
concede  that  the  squadron  has  a  good  major. 
But  where  are  the  other  officers?  May  be 
General  Blunt  will  tell  me.     I  hope  so. 


''May  6th. — En  route  again.  Got  to  Fort 
Worth  at  eight  o'clock  yesterday  morning. 
Reported  to  the  Division  Commander  and 
hit  the  road  again  at  five  in  the  afternoon. 
I  found  that  I  had  met  General  Blunt  before. 
He  used  to  be  one  of  my  math,  instructors  at 
West  Point.  He  was  a  good  instructor  then 
and  he  looks  like  a  real  general  now.  When 
I  reported,  he  shot  off  his  orders  right  away : 
'Glad  to  see  you,  Burr.  You  draw  the  First 
Squadron,  32d  Cavalry,  Headquarters,  Tuc- 
son, Arizona.  Here  are  the  descriptive  lists 
of  all  your  men.  They  are  scattered  along 
the  Southern  Pacific  from  Deming  to  Tucson, 
and  along  the  El  Paso  and  Southwestern 
from  Deming  to  Bisbee.  You  know  the 
country,  don't  you?     Fact  is,  I  know  you 


Among  the  Volunteers         65 

do,  because  that's  the  reason  you  were  given 
that  territory.  The  Division  Adjutant  will 
give  you  your  order  and  a  copy  of  the  regula- 
tions governing  the  training  of  volunteer 
cavalry.  You'll  find  your  work  pretty  well 
doped  out  for  you  and  your  common  sense  will 
do  the  rest.  Two  sergeants  and  three  corpo- 
rals from  the  5th  Cavalry  will  report  to  you 
at  Deming.' 

"I  asked  the  General  where  the  summer 
camps  would  be.  'Don't  know  yet,'  he 
replied.  'We  only  got  started  here  day 
before  yesterday.  But  you'll  have  orders 
in  plenty  of  time.  You  get  the  men  ready 
for  camp  and  we'll  do  the  rest. '  The  General 
picked  up  a  pencil  and  glanced  at  a  map  that 
lay  on  his  desk.  As  I  got  up  he  said :  *  Going  ? 
Well  good-bye.  Burr.  I'll  be  down  to  see 
you  when  you  get  your  men  rounded  up. ' 

*'At  any  rate  I  don't  have  to  worry  any 

more  because  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  is 

scattered   from    the    Brazos    to    the    Grand 

Canyon.     That  is  General  Blunt's  job  and 

mine  is  just  the  little  slice  of  country  south 
5 


66         An  Army  of  the  People 

of  the  Gila.  I'm  glad  that  two  sergeants  and 
three  corporals  are  to  report  to  me.  That  is 
a  little  start  toward  having  a  squadron  of 
cavalry.  We'll  have  to  find  the  rest  of  them 
out  in  the  chapparal. 


*'May  7th. — En  route.  I  have  been  look- 
ing over  the  descriptive  lists  of  my  squadron 
of  mesquite  dragoons.  It's  not  so  bad  after 
all.  There  are  414  recruits  and  they  are 
pretty  well  bunched  in  groups  of  fifteen  or 
more  along  the  railroad.  Many  of  them 
live  back  in  the  country,  but  they  are  tied 
together  into  railroad-station  groups.  There 
are  forty-seven  recruits  near  one  town  alone 
and  only  twenty-one  groups  altogether. 
And  then  there's  some  trained  material.  I 
was  surprised  at  the  statements  of  former 
service.  There  are  forty-four  men  with 
honorable  discharges  from  the  army  who 
have  settled  down  in  the  cattle  country. 
Ten  of  them  were  discharged  as  non-com- 
missioned    officers.     There     are     thirty-six 


Among  the  Volunteers         67 

youngsters  who  have  served  in  the  militia. 
Among  the  candidates  for  the  officers'  schools, 
there  are  two  veterans  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War  and  two  have  seen  Philippine  ser- 
vice. There  is  a  graduate  from  West  Point 
who  resigned  and  went  into  the  cattle  busi- 
ness, and  here  is  a  young  mining  engineer 
who,  after  two  years  at  West  Point,  graduated 
from  Cornell.  There  is  one  young  lawyer 
who  graduated  from  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute.  Two  cattlemen  who  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Illinois  state  that 
they  had  four  years'  military  training  at 
college  and  one  of  them  became  a  captain  in 
the  university  regiment.  There  are  seven 
other  graduates  of  military  schools.  It 
doesn't  look  like  organizing  this  cavalry 
squadron  would  be  entirely  a  game  of  soli- 
taire after  all.  Under  the  regulations,  I  find 
that  I  am  authorized  to  appoint  provisional 
officers  and  to  assign  them  to  troops.  With 
this  power  and  after  some  personal  knowledge 
of  these  men  I  should  be  able  to  have  a  pro- 
visional organization  of  the  squadron  before 


68        An  Army  of  the  People 

we  go  to  the  camp.  When  I  first  looked  at 
this  proposition  I  thought  I  would  have  to 
go  out  into  the  mesquite  and  yell  for  my 
cavalry  squadron,  but  already  the  outlines 
of  order  begin  to  appear.  Perhaps  it  is  be- 
cause men  are  naturally  organizing  animals 
and  are  bound  to  organize  rightly  or  wrongly 
whenever  we  bring  them  together.  If  so, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  point  out  the  right  way. 


''May  8th — Deming,  New  Mexico. — As 
I  got  off  the  train  yesterday  I  realized  that  I 
was  just  entering  my  territory  and  decided 
to  make  some  inquiries  about  the  volunteer 
cavalry  personnel  in  the  neighborhood.  But 
I  found  the  personnel  waiting  for  me.  Thirty- 
three  mounted  men  were  lined  up  south  of 
the  station  to  meet  me.  They  were  all  well 
mounted  and  their  control  of  their  spirited 
horses,  all  more  or  less  excited  by  the  railroad 
noises,  was  a  pretty  sight.  As  I  walked 
along  the  platform  somebody  recognized  me, 
for  a  tall  cavalier  in  front  of  the  center  turned 


Among  the  Volunteers         69 

and  roared  a  command,  and  I  immediately 
received  one  of  the  most  unusual  and  signifi- 
cant military  salutes  on  record.  At  the 
word  of  command  each  horseman  drew  a 
yellow  emblem  from  his  hip  pocket  and  stood 
at  'Present,*  with  a  copy  of  the  'Cavalry 
Drill  Regulations '  in  front  of  his  chin. 

"As  I  returned  the  salute  there  was  another 
command  which  brought  the  yellow  books 
back  to  the  hip  pockets.  Another  command 
and  the  little  troop  wheeled  by  fours  and 
moved  in  column  down  the  street  at  a  walk, 
a  moment  later  it  broke  into  a  trot  for  a 
hundred  yards  or  so,  then  wheeled  about  by 
fours  and  returned,  breaking  from  trot  to 
gallop  as  it  passed  the  extemporized  reviewing 
stand.  After  going  two  hundred  yards  be- 
yond me  there  was  a  shout  and  my  cavalry 
troop  was  gone.  In  a  moment  the  street 
was  full  of  rollicking  cowboys  engaged  in  an 
extemporized  wild-west  show.  There  were 
all  of  the  usual  stunts,  bucking  ponies,  vault- 
ing horsemen,  whirling  lariats,  and  sombreros 
picked  from  the  ground.    But  while  the  scurry 


70         An  Army  of  the  People 

was  at  its  height  my  tall  troop  commander 
fired  his  pistol  in  the  air  and  immediately  his 
horse  men  galloped  toward  him  and  re-formed 
their  line.  Again  he  shouted  his  command 
for  a  salute,  and  once  more  thirty-three 
copies  of  the  Cavalry  Drill  Regulations  were 
presented  to  the  Inspector-Instructor  of  the 
First  Squadron,  32d  U.  S.  Volunteer  Cavalry. 


''May  9th. — En  route.  When  I  first  saw 
the  commander  of  the  Deming  troop  I  thought 
there  was  something  familiar  about  him. 
It  turned  out  to  be  Jim  Hurley,  my  room- 
mate for  two  years  at  West  Point.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  men  of  my  class  and 
undoubtedly  the  best  horseman.  He  was 
'found'  in  Analytical  Geometry  and  Cal- 
culus, and  strange  to  say  he  has  always 
blamed  old  Blunt,  our  new  Division  Com- 
mander, for  his  discomfiture  After  leaving 
West  Point  he  studied  mining  at  Cornell, 
and  later  became  a  prosperous  mining  engi- 
neer and  ore  buyer  with  headquarters   at 


Amon^^  the  Volunteers          71 


Deming.  When  the  National  Defense  Act 
was  passed,  he  immediately  became  the  prin- 
cipal promoter  of  the  volunteer  movement 
in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  His  business 
interests  carried  him  all  over  the  region  from 
Yuma  to  Denver,  and  wherever  he  went  he 
talked  to  the  local  groups  of  young  men  and 
developed  the  basis  of  military  order  by  organ- 
izing them,  under  the  leadership  of  older  men 
of  former  military  service.  Hurley  of  course 
enrolled  for  the  Cavalry,  and  his  principal 
work  lay  in  organizing  the  personnel  that 
was  embodied  later  in  the  First  Squadron  of 
the  32 d  Cavalry.  But  as  a  promoter  he 
worked  in  a  wider  field.  He  helped  to  pro- 
mote the  enrollment  of  the  Second  Squadron 
of  his  regiment  which  lies  grouped  along 
the  Santa  Fe  line  from  Trinidad  to  Needles. 
He  and  his  ever  increasing  circle  of  assistants 
developed  the  personnel  of  the  I32d  Volunteer 
Infantry  in  the  same  territory.  They  also 
got  together  three  batteries  of  horse  artillery, 
one  centered  at  El  Paso,  one  at  Tucson,  and 
one  in  the  Phoenix  region.     He  also  encour- 


^2         An  Army  of  the  People 

aged  the  enrollment  of  mountain  ore  freight- 
ers as  field  army  teamsters  and  thus  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  ammunition  and  sup- 
ply columns  of  the  First  Volunteer  Cavalry 
Division.  Wherever  he  went  he  found  inter- 
est, and  his  natural  instinct  for  organization 
molded  interest  in  the  direction  of  aptitude 
and  initial  training.  Under  his  guidance 
miners  and  railroad  men  enrolled  as  sappers 
and  miners  in  the  engineer  service,  and  most 
of  the  young  doctors  in  the  mining  region 
began  collecting  personnel  for  field  hospitals 
and  ambulance  companies.  If  there  are 
other  men  like  Hurley  in  the  rest  of  the 
country,  our  volunteer  army  is  sure  to  suc- 
ceed. It  seems  that  his  celebration  in  my 
honor  at  Deming  was  more  or  less  spontane- 
ous. When  he  heard  of  my  assignment,  he 
wired  Fort  Worth  and  found  that  I  was 
already  well  on  the  way.  'I  had  only  time 
to  bring  in  the  men  from  the  neighborhood,* 
said  he.  'If  I  had  had  time  to  call  in  the 
boys  from  Cook's  Peak  and  Silver  City  you'd 
have  seen  all  of  Troop  'A'  at  the  station. 


Among  the  Volunteers         73 

**I  very  frankly  expressed  to  Hurley  my 
admiration  for  his  work  and  predicted  that 
he  would  soon  be  in  command  of  the  squad- 
ron, or,  better,  of  the  regiment.  'Time 
enough  for  that,'  he  said.  'That  isn't  the 
game  that  I  am  playing.  The  nation  is 
building  up  a  great  institution  and  I  want  to 
help  build  it  to  last  forever.  I  am  working 
as  a  citizen  and  not  merely  as  a  soldier.  If 
I  thought  of  my  own  interest  I'd  buy  ore 
this  summer  and  not  bother  with  a  summer 
camp.  This  isn't  merely  a  question  of  indi- 
vidualism, it's  a  question  of  organization, 
of  standardizing.  You're  the  Government's 
standardizing  agent  down  here.  You  have 
one  of  the  biggest  jobs  an  American  citizen 
ever  had  to  do.  I  am  simply  here  to  help, 
not  you,  but  the  success  of  the  job.  You 
are  to  use  me  where  the  job  needs  me  most. 
I'll  serve  wherever  you  put  me,  from  troop 
commander  down  to  farrier  sergeant.  No, 
I  am  not  disinterested.  I  am  playing  a  big 
game  and  not  a  little  one,  and  you'll  see  that 
the  stakes  I  play  are  worth  having.'" 


IX. 


PREPARING    FOR    CAMP — LIEUTENANT    BURR  S 
DIARY   CONTINUED 

''Tucson,    June    ist. — Have   just   returned 

from  a  visit  to  all  of  my  stations.     In  some 

cases  all  of  the  men  of  the  local  group  rode 

in  from  their  outlying  ranches  and  were  there 

at  the  railroad  station  to  meet  me.   Generally, 

however,  the  leader  of  the  group  would  meet 

me  with  the  information   I   had  previously 

written  for.     In  most  cases  I  found  him  to  be 

an  old  soldier  of  the  Army  or  the  National 

Guard.    Sometimes  he  was  a  college  man  with 

military-school  experience.     I  always  found 

him  to  be  inspired  by  Hurley's  point  of  view. 

Hurley's  influence  and  imagination  extended 

over  three  States,  while   the    local   leader's 

influence  was  generally  restricted  to  the  limits 

of  his  own  canyon  or  mountain  prairie. 

74 


Preparing  for  Camp  75 

*'At  Benson  I  met  one  Daniel  Blane,  a  San 
Pedro  Valley  farmer  who  rode  in  twenty-five 
miles  with  his  two  sons  and  twelve  other 
boys  of  his  neighborhood.  He  was  an  honor- 
ably discharged  first  sergeant,  about  forty- 
four  years  old.  He  had  formerly  served  with 
the  cavalry  at  Fort  Grant.  'Yes, '  said  he,  'I'm 
too  old  to  come  as  a  recruit,  so  I  enrolled  as 
a  student  officer.  The  boys  wanted  to  come, 
and  they  wanted  me  to  come  with  them,  and 
it  didn't  take  much  urging.  I'll  go  through 
the  summer  camp  as  a  candidate  for  a  com- 
mission because  I  want  the  summer  camp. 
If  I  don't  get  the  commission  I'll  go  back 
home  just  as  happy.  In  the  meantime  I 
remember  enough  of  the  cavalry  business 
to  help  break  in  recruits.  I  was  going  to 
use  these  boys  to  help  me  dig  a  new  irri- 
gation ditch  this  summer,  but  we  have  de- 
cided to  put  it  off  till  fall.  It  won't  hurt 
the  boys,  and  it  won't  hurt  me,  and  it 
won't  hurt  the  ditch  when  we  come  to  dig 
it.' 


76         An  Army  of  the  People 

"Tucson,  June  loth. — My  office  is  open 
and  we  are  all  busy.  I  have  appointed  my 
five  regular  non-commissioned  officers  '  Mobi- 
lization Sergeants'  as  provided  in  the  new 
law.  After  the  summer's  camp,  one  will  go 
to  each  troop  center  and  one  will  remain  with 
me  at  squadron  headquarters.  For  the 
present  I  am  keeping  them  with  me.  They 
are  all  trained  army  clerks  and  I  have  them 
busy  with  paper  work.  My  requisitions  for 
clothing,  ammunition,  arms,  accouterments, 
horse  equipments,  tentage,  kitchen  and  field 
wagons  are  all  in.  When  you  realize  that 
the  supply  departments  are  receiving  requi- 
sitions from  seven  or  eight  hundred  other 
organizations  more  or  less  like  mine,  you  see 
there  is  a  big  job  before  them.  But  if  they 
can  do  it  in  war,  they  can  do  it  in  peace,  and 
everything  indicates  that  every  cup  and 
cartridge  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  men 
within  three  hours  after  they  reach  their 
first  camps.  The  organization  of  the  first 
squadron  is  so  far  advanced  that  I  have  de- 
cided to  issue  the  clothing  and  equipments 


Preparing  for  Camp  77 

before  we  take  the  train.     The  men  are  anx- 
ious to  leave  home  looking  like  soldiers. 

"The  work  has  been  running  smoothly  be- 
cause it  was  all  standardized  last  winter  in 
Washington.  Take  requisitions,  for  example: 
instead  of  having  eight  hundred  battalion 
inspector-instructors  wasting  gray  matter 
on  the  problem  of  equipment,  each  one  of  us 
has  his  standard  'table  of  allowances  and 
model  requisitions.'  After  a  little  study  of 
local  requirements  I  can  turn  most  of  the 
paper  work  over  to  my  clerks.  It  is  well  too, 
for  I  have  been  studying  the  courses  of  in- 
struction for  the  Cavalry  Summer  Schools, 
and  I  find  that  I  must  brush  up  everything 
I  ever  knew  in  order  to  keep  ahead  of  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  First  Squadron.  The 
school  work  is  also  standardized  and  I  am 
making  requisition  now  for  books,  manuals, 
and  maps. 


"Tucson,  June  15th. — I  have  completed 
my  squadron  organization  and  tentative  as- 


78         An  Army  of  the  People 

signment  of  provisional  officers.  My  Squad- 
ron Adjutant  is  Marshall,  a  young  lawyer 
here  in  Tucson,  who  graduated  from  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute.  My  Squadron 
Quartermaster,  Williams,  is  also  from  Tucson. 
He  served  in  the  Philippines  as  a  youngster 
and  became  a  regimental  quartermaster 
sergeant.  I  have  slated  Hurley  as  Captain 
of  Troop  *A,'  to  be  formed  in  the  Deming 
country.  Davis,  a  ranchman  and  former 
captain  of  the  organized  militia,  is  to  have 
his  tryout  as  Captain  of  Troop  'B,'  to  be 
formed  at  Lordsburg.  Moseley,  another 
militia  officer,  is  to  be  intrusted  with  the  for- 
mation of  'C  Troop,  from  Bisbee  and  the 
Sulphur  Springs  Valley.  Finally  my  friend, 
former  first  sergeant  Daniel  Blane,  is  to  be 
Captain  of  Troop  'D,'  which  lies  scattered 
from  the  San  Pedro  to  Tucson.  ...  I  have 
also  two  extra  captains  and  three  extra  lieu- 
tenants from  the  organized  militia,  whom  I 
am  attaching  to  troops  for  the  Summer  School 
of  Application  and  the  autumn  tryout. 


Preparing  for  Camp  79 

**My  Battalion  Sergeant-Major  is  a  well 
educated  youngster  who  served  an  enlist- 
ment in  the  regular  army,  where  he  became 
a  regimental  clerk.  My  first  sergeants  are  all 
old  soldiers,  and  my  sergeants  have  all  had 
some  military  training.  In  most  cases  I  have 
considered  the  recommendations  of  the  local 
leaders  in  selecting  my  corporals.  They  have 
not  had  much  training,  but  most  of  them  are 
fine  intelligent  youngsters,  and  of  course  all 
of  them  are  good  horsemen  and  know  the 
horse. 


''Tucson,  June  i6th. — The  orders  for  the 
summer  camp  have  come.  In  order  to  give 
the  troops  of  the  several  arms  a  chance  to 
observe  each  other,  several  camps  are  to  be 
established  within  marching  distance  of  each 
other  in  northern  New  Mexico.  The  44th 
Infantry  Brigade,  with  a  battalion  of  the 
29th  Field  Artillery,  a  field  hospital,  and 
an  ambulance  company,  is  to  come  from  the 
Fifteenth    Infantry    Division.     The    Third 


8o         An  Army  of  the  People 

Cavalry  Division  is  to  be  represented  by  our 
regiment  of  cavalry,  the  2d  Battalion  of  the 
33d  Field  Artillery  (Horse),  a  mounted  engi- 
neer company,  and  a  field  company  and  aero 
detachment  from  the  Signal  Corps. 


**  Tucson,  June  26th. — All  arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  start.  Uniforms  are 
to  be  issued  just  before  the  entrainment. 
The  stock  cars  are  to  be  picked  up  as  the 
trains  approach  Deming,  where  we  take  on 
the  rest  of  the  baggage  and  consolidate  the 
squadron  train.  Everything  is  scheduled 
to  arrive  at  Albuquerque  the  morning  of  July 
1st.  I  find  that  most  of  my  officers  know 
the  Field  Service  Regulations  chapter  on 
*  Railroad  Transportation'  better  than  I  do. 
The  arrangements  and  train  schedules  have 
all  been  made  up  by  Colonel  Wilson,  the 
newly  appointed  Railroad  Quartermaster  of 
the  Fifteenth  Infantry  Division.  He  is  a 
Colonel  in  our  new  Volunteer  Army.  In  civil 
life  he  is  a  division  traffic  manager  on  the 


Preparing  for  Camp  8i 

Southern  Pacific.  This  illustrates  one  of 
the  underlying  principles  of  the  new  Volun- 
teer Army.  Technical  experts  in  civil  life 
are  selected  for  corresponding  military 
specialties. 


^^  June  30th. — Kn  route.  While  we  were  at 
Deming,  one  of  Captain  Blane's  dragoon 
mountain  boys  met  some  old  or  new  friends 
and  came  rolling  back  to  the  platform  more 
like  a  jovial  cowboy  than  a  model  volunteer 
soldier.  The  Captain  sent  for  the  offender. 
When  he  came  up  defiantly  in  the  custody  of 
the  First  Sergeant,  the  Captain  looked  at 
him  a  moment  and  said:  'Sergeant  Sullivan, 
you  can  take  off  Private  Riggs's  belts  and 
uniform  and  let  him  wear  that  new,  blue 
fatigue  suit  of  his.  Then  you  can  rig  up  a 
guard  house  in  the  baggage  car  for  Private 
Riggs's  benefit  and  keep  him  there.*  I  noticed 
the  beginning  of  a  gesture  of  resentment  on 
Riggs's  part.  He  looked  about  the  crowded 
platform  but  did  not  discover  a  sympathetic 


82         An  Army  of  the  People 

public   opinion.     He   knew    Captain    Blane 
and  he  knew  Sergeant  Sullivan. 

' '  The  next  morning  as  we  were  en  route 
between  Rincon  and  Albuquerque  I  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  '  D '  Troop  car  when  Cap- 
tain Blane  sent  for  Private  Riggs.  As  nearly 
as  I  can  recall  them  the  Captain's  remarks 
were  as  follows:  'Riggs,  this  trip  of  ours  is 
not  a  booze  party.  The  Summer  School 
Regulations  of  the  Volunteer  Army  are 
against  it  and  *'D"  Troop  is  going  to  stick 
to  the  Regulations.  I  explained  that  regula- 
tion to  all  of  you  boys  before  we  left  Benson. 
I  am  not  going  to  take  a  drink  until  we  get 
home,  because  I  am  going  to  obey  the  law 
up  to  the  limit.  Now  I  want  you  to  under- 
stand that  I  am  Captain  of  this  troop.  You 
have  just  begun  soldiering,  so  you  may  not 
know  what  the  word  * '  Captain ' '  means.  But 
you  do  know  what  the  word  "Boss"  means, 
and  you  can  put  it  down  that  the  two  words 
mean  just  the  same  thing.  Now  while  I  am 
the  Boss  of  this  troop,  no  man  stays  on  this 
job  who  does  not  obey  orders.     If  you  don't 


Preparing  for  Camp  83 

like  the  job,  you  can  ask  for  your  time  and 
go  home.     What  do  you  think  about  it  ? ' 

"  'I  don't  want  to  go  home,'  said  Riggs. 
'If  you  will  give  me  another  chance,  I'll 
stick.' 

''  'Sergeant  Sullivan,'  said  the  Captain, 
'you  can  release  Private  Riggs  from  arrest. '  '* 


X. 


THE    VOLUNTEERS     IN     CAMP — FURTHER    EX- 
TRACTS   FROM    LIEUTENANT    BURR's 
DIARY 

*'Camp  Kit  Carson,  July  ist. — We  are  in 
camp  after  a  strenuous  day.  We  arrived  at 
the  camp  siding  at  eight  o'clock  this  morning. 
The  horses  were  on  their  picket  lines  by  ten 
o'clock  and  by  eleven  the  baggage  was  un- 
loaded. At  noon  we  marched  into  a  per- 
manent cam.p  of  conical  tents  prepared  by 
the  regular  cavalry  detachment  from  El  Paso. 
The  regulars  came  up  to  give  us  a  welcome 
and  a  good  start  in  a  model  camp,  but  they 
leave  us  this  evening  at  six  o'clock  and  from 
now  on  we  will  be  on  our  own  resources.  I 
have  just  assembled  the  troop  commanders 
to  give  them  the  list  of  camp  calls  and  some 

necessary    sanitary    orders.     The    men    are 

84 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        85 

busy  getting  their  tents  in  order.  I  can  hear 
Sergeant  SulHvan  now  telHng  the  men  of  his 
troop  how  they  used  to  do  it  in  the  old  Third 
Cavalry.  I  will  inspect  them  after  stables. 
Reveille  to-morrow  morning  at  five  o'clock. 
The  summer's  course  of  instruction  opens 
at  half  past  six  with  'Military  Calisthenics 
and  the  School  of  the  Soldier.'  The  first 
week  the  men  are  to  work  only  six  hours  a 
day  including  stables.  The  Officers'  School 
begins  to-morrow  afternoon  with  the  first 
quiz  on  Cavalry  Drill  Regulations  and  a 
lecture  on  camp  sanitation. 


*'Camp  Kit  Carson,  July  loth. — General 
Blunt  has  been  here  to  inspect  the  progress 
of  the  cavalry  recruits.  After  retreat  last 
night  he  assembled  the  inspector-instructors 
and  gave  us  his  views  of  the  summer's  pro- 
gress. 

*'  '  Three  months, '  said  he,  'is  a  short  time 
for  training  a  squadron  of  cavalry.  But  you 
have  the  finest  natural  cavalry  material  in 


86         An  Army  of  the  People 

the  world,  and  if  you  can  teach  these  western 
horsemen  as  fast  as  they  can  learn  you  will 
do  great  things  by  autumn.  The  best  practi- 
cal rule  for  cavalry  training  that  I  know  is 
not  found  in  the  military  text-books  at 
all.  I  got  it  from  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

"  *  It  is  simply  this :  ' '  Do  those  things  that 
you  ought  to  do,  and  leave  undone  the  things 
that  you  ought  not  to  do. "  If  you  neglect 
that  rule  there  will  be  no  health  in  you, 
spiritual,  tactical,  or  any  other  kind. 

"  *  So  teach  these  cowboys  the  plain  cavalry 
business  and  don't  teach  them  cavalry  fads. 
Teach  them  to  march  and  scout  and  fight. 
I'll  excuse  you  from  polo  games  and  horse- 
show  stunts  until  some  other  summer.  You 
will  not  have  time  to  polish  them  up  as  Cos- 
sacks or  Uhlans  or  Household  lancers  and 
curassiers,  but  you  can  go  a  long  way  toward 
making  the  plain  "made  in  America"  brand 
that  Ashby  developed  under  Stonewall  Jack- 
son ;  the  homespun,  serviceable  fighting  horse- 
men that  rediscovered  the  Napoleonic  cavalry 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        87 

r61e  under  Stuart  and  Forrest  and  Sheridan 
and  Wilson.' 


"Camp  Kit  Carson,  July  20th. — As  I  sat 
by  the  camp  fire  last  night  the  Corporal  of 
the  Guard  was  inspecting  a  sentinel  within 
earshot  of  my  tent.  The  sentinel  was  ap- 
parently not  precise  in  some  parts  of  his 
guard  catechism  and  the  Corporal's  criti- 
cisms and  corrections  were  delivered  in  such 
a  rich  and  forceful  Irish  brogue  that  I 
moved  toward  them  under  the  shadow  of 
my  tent. 

*"I  asked  ye  for  all  of  your  gineral  orders 
and  not  for  a  racy  synopsis  of  them, '  said 
the  Corporal.  'The  night's  young  and  I'm 
not  very  busy  so  just  repate  them  agin. ' 

"The  sentinel  repeated  them  again  and 
several  times  again  until  the  Corporal's 
passion  for  thoroughness  was  satisfied.  As 
the  Corporal  finally  moved  away  and  the 
sentinel  resumed  his  beat,  I  was  able  to  rec- 
ognize them.     Private  Burton,  a  good-look- 


88         An  Army  of  the  People 

ing  youngster  of  nineteen,  is  the  son  of  one 
of  the  richest  cattlemen  in  Arizona.  Cor- 
poral Casey's  father  is  a  range  foreman  on  the 
Burton  ranch. 

"I  record  this  little  scene  because  it  is  so 
typical  of  the  democracy  of  this  camp.  Bur- 
ton scarcely  knew  Casey  when  they  came 
down  here.  But  they  rode  boot  to  boot  at 
the  first  drills  and  I  notice  lately  that  they 
always  ride  together  when  they  go  on  pass. 
If  you  should  meet  them  on  the  prairie  you 
would  not  know  the  rich  man  from  the  poor 
man  There  is  a  little  yellow  stripe  on  the 
Corporal's  arm  that  marks  him  as  one  who  is 
being  tried  as  a  leader  of  other  men.  He  is 
proud  to  wear  it,  and  Burton  respects  it. 
Otherwise  they  wear  the  same  khaki  uniform 
and  both  have  learned  to  mend  it  and  keep  it 
neat  and  clean  and  to  wear  it  like  soldiers. 
They  sleep  on  the  same  blankets,  eat  the 
same  daily  ration,  and  do  the  same  daily 
grist  of  work.  They  have  precisely  the  same 
financial  status  here,  for  Casey  does  not  need 
any  money  and  Burton  could  not  use  it  if  he 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        89 

had  it.     They  are  both  at  the  charge  of  their 
even-handed  Uncle  Sam. 


*'Camp  Kit  Carson,  July 2,1st. — July,  1916, 
has  been  the  most  strenuous  month  of  my 
life.  If  anything  it  was  busier  than  Plebe 
Camp  at  West  Point.  We  are  well  along 
though  in  school  of  the  troop.  The  men  are 
beginning  to  have  the  set-up  of  the  soldier, 
and  each  troop  is  well  grounded  in  drill.  Of 
course  it  was  only  possible  because  the  men 
were  horsemen  to  begin  with  and  the  officers 
had  enough  initial  training  to  act  as  instructors 
from  the  start.  Every  morning  we  had  drills 
and  practical  training  in  the  care  of  arms, 
equipment,  and  clothing.  Each  morning's 
work  was  scheduled  in  advance  so  that  the 
officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  could 
prepare  for  their  duties  as  instructors.  In  the 
afternoons  we  had  the  officers'  schools,  with 
gallery  practice  and  other  preliminary  target 
work  for  the  men.  There  was  plenty  to  do 
apparently  and  yet  there  was  energy  enough 


90         An  Army  of  the  People 

left  to  organize  a  baseball  league  in  the  squad- 
ron with  a  team  in  each  troop  and  a  rattling 
game  every  evening  after  stables. 

"It  is  a  great  college  of  the  open  air,  and 
I  find  my  job  as  College  President  a  very 
busy  one.  But  it  is  only  a  college  after  all. 
For  scattered  around  our  camps  are  other 
colleges  of  infantry,  field  artillery,  and  the 
auxiliary  services,  all  bound  together  in  a 
great  summer  university  of  National  Service. 


**But  we  have  had  some  losses  in  personnel. 
Some  of  the  men  have  found  soldiering  too 
hard,  just  as  they  will  find  everything  too 
hard  that  requires  strenuous  effort.  They 
have  gone  home.  Many  more  wanted  to 
go  home  at  first,  but  were  ashamed  to  be 
quitters  in  the  eyes  of  old  comrades.  Now 
they  have  got  the  pace  and  are  glad  they 
stayed.  Some  of  our  student  officers  have 
left  us.  It  is  a  hard  grind  for  anybody  but  a 
true  soldier,  and  no  other  should  hold  a  com- 
mission.    Those    who    expected    the    glitter 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        91 

and  fuss  of  a  prolonged  militia  camp,  half 
parade  and  half  spree,  have  learned  that  wear- 
ing a  uniform  is  not  all  of  an  officer's  business. 
I  recognized  some  of  this  type  when  we 
started,  but  their  elimination  has  been 
prompt  and  automatic.  To  test  them  as 
officers,  it  is  only  necessary  to  give  them  an 
officer's  job  and  make  them  do  it  up  to  the 
handle  every  day.  Even  the  cleverest  four- 
flushers  can't  play  that  game  long.  In  a 
little  while  they  tender  their  resignations  on 
account  of  the  pressure  of  private  business, 
and  their  resignations  are  always  accepted. 
For  every  such  vacancy  I  have  a  dozen 
understudies  who  are  ready  to  fill  it. 

"But  these  are  not  the  only  losses.  Poor 
old  Timpkins  of  my  old  regiment  has  been 
relieved  from  duty  as  the  regular  Inspector- 
Instructor  of  the  2d  Squadron.  He  is  a  good 
garrison  officer  but  he  doesn't  fit  into  this 
Volunteer  Educational  scheme.  There  was 
friction  from  the  first  in  his  squadron.  He 
could  not  see  that  discipline  was  only  a  means 
to  an  end,  and  that  where  leading  is  sufficient 


92         An  Army  of  the  People 

and  men  are  eager  to  follow,  it  isn't  necessary 
to  browbeat  and  drive.  General  Blunt  saw 
the  unsatisfactory  situation  in  the  2d  Squad- 
ron at  his  first  inspection  and  fortunately 
had  full  power  to  correct  it.  He  relieved 
Timpkins  at  once  and  gave  him  an  adminis- 
trative job  on  the  Quartermaster  staff  of  the 
Division.  He  is  sure  to  make  good  there 
for  he  is  able  and  energetic,  but  he  was  a 
square  plug  in  a  round  hole  when  it  came  to 
teaching  volunteers. 

**Most  of  the  selections  of  regular  officers 
as  volunteer  instructors  have  been  satis- 
factory. But  some  army  officers  fail  to  get 
into  the  game.  The  volunteers  are  eager 
and  willing  but  they  are  typical  intelligent 
young  Americans  and  want  *to  be  shown.* 
This  is  no  place  for  the  pompous  martinet  who 
thinks  he  can  dogmatize  because  he  is  a  profes- 
sional soldier.  In  his  good-bye  conference, 
General  Blunt  gave  us  some  plain  talk  on 
this  subject.  He  said:  'You  must  get  over 
the  narrow  point  of  view  of  the  old  army. 
Remember  that  military  education  is  one 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        93 

thing  and  professional  training  is  another. 
Most  of  you  young  gentlemen  have  been 
educated  to  death,  but  your  professional 
practice  is  just  beginning.  Graduation  from 
West  Point  no  more  qualifies  you  for  high 
command,  than  graduation  from  the  Harvard 
Law  School  would  qualify  you  for  the  Su- 
preme Bench.  Each  school  is  simply  a  fav- 
ored gateway  into  a  great  profession.  But 
the  gateway  brings  you  only  to  the  threshold. 
And  remember  that  there  are  humbler  gate- 
ways into  both  professions.  Lincoln  never 
went  to  a  law  school  at  all.  He  borrowed 
his  Blackstone  and  conned  it  by  a  tallow  dip. 
Forrest  misspelled  the  simplest  words  in  his 
tactical  messages,  but  he  is  a  professional 
model  for  all  of  us  as  American  cavalrymen. 
So  go  about  your  duties  here  with  humility. 
Remember  that  Cromwell  was  a  country  gen- 
tleman like  some  of  your  student  officers,  and 
that  he  never  thought  of  the  profession  of 
arms  until  he  was  forty  years  old.  And  yet 
he  founded  and  led  the  most  irresistible 
cavalry  the  world  has  ever  seen.     Indeed  we 


94         An  Army  of  the  People 

will  miss  the  real  spirit  of  the  American  Volun- 
teer System  if  we  imagine  that  we  are  sent 
here  to  advance  our  personal  military  am- 
bitions. We  are  founding  a  great  National 
Institution.  There  is  latent  military  genius 
among  the  young  men  of  these  camps.  It  is 
for  us  to  find  it  and  prepare  it  and  make  it 
available  for  the  nation. ' 


''Camp  in  the  Mountains,  August  3d. — It 
is  certainly  a  relief  to  be  up  here  in  the  hills 
after  last  month's  grind.  The  men  took  the 
hardships  of  the  practice  march  as  a  frolic. 
They  had  their  first  bivouac  in  shelter  tents 
last  night,  and  as  a  result  of  their  formal  drills 
in  tent  pitching  they  went  into  camp  like 
veterans.  The  end  of  the  second  day's 
march  brought  us  to  this  valley  among  the 
pines.  I  am  authorized  to  stay  here  three 
days  and  give  the  squadron  an  outing.  After 
performing  their  necessary  camp  and  stable 
duties,  the  men  will  be  free  to  fish  and  swim 
and  to  ride  over  the  foothills.     I  am  even 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        95 

granting  hunting  leaves  and  some  of  the 
younger  officers  are  taking  their  platoons  on 
long  hikes  toward  the  higher  mountains. 
The  only  condition  is  that  they  must  march 
like  bodies  of  cavalry  and  bring  back  a 
reconnaissance  map  and  report  of  the  trip. 

"On  the  way  up  I  limited  the  instruction 
to  the  duties  of  the  march.  Officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers  had  already  been 
grounded  in  that  part  of  the  Field  Service 
Regulations  and  I  exacted  the  most  rigid 
march  discipline.  My  men  could  ride,  but 
they  had  still  to  learn  the  practical  art  of 
marching.  On  the  way  down  we  will  make 
three  marches  instead  of  two  and,  without 
relaxing  the  march  discipline,  we  will  begin 
our  practice  in  advance  cavalry  reconnais- 
sance. 


"Camp  Kit  Carson,  ^wgw5/ 23d. — My  four 
troops  are  on  the  target  range  finishing  their 
record  practice.  To  most  of  the  men  this 
is  the  most  interesting  part  of  the    season. 


96        An  Army  of  the  People 

Shooting  is  good  sport  in  itself  and  the  ele- 
ment of  competition  adds  a  double  zest. 
But  in  the  target  work  I  have  encountered 
the  first  serious  opposition  to  my  will  as  a 
commander.  I  scheduled  range  practice  for 
eight  hours  a  day  and  immediately  found 
active,  organized  dissent  all  along  the  line. 
From  Captain  Hurley  of  Troop  'A'  down  to 
Musician  Rafferty  of  Troop  'D, '  officers  and 
men  insist  that  shooting  should  begin  with 
the  first  clear  light  of  dawn  and  last  until  the 
targets  disappear  in  the  evening  twilight. 
It  may  have  been  weakness  to  change  my 
mind,  but  I  yielded  to  the  spirit  of  protest. 
We  literally  shoot  all  day  and  snatch  odd 
moments  for  eating,  grooming,  and  policing 
camp.  I  am  afraid  that  there  is  even  a 
gambling  spirit  growing.  I  have  been  un- 
officially informed  that  every  troop  is  betting 
that  it  will  beat  every  other  troop,  that  every 
platoon  is  betting  that  it  will  beat  every 
other  platoon,  and  that  every  corporal  is 
betting  that  he  will  qualify  more  marksmen 
than    any    other    corporal.     The    baseball 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        97 

games  scheduled  for  the  rest  of  the  month 
have  been  cancelled. 


''Camp  Kit  Carson,  August  28th. — The 
troops  of  my  squadron  are  to  have  their  field 
firing  tests  next  week,  so  I  rode  down  to  see 
the  infantry  work  this  morning.  In  these 
days  when  battle  targets  are  generally  in- 
visible, individual  marksmanship  is  only  a 
minor  factor  in  the  fire  fight.  The  fire  of 
organized  masses  of  men  must  be  controlled 
by  their  officers  and  delivered  so  as  to  sweep 
areas  of  the  opposing  front.  This  imposes  an 
immense  task  on  the  infantry  officer,  prob- 
ably the  most  important  and  the  most  diffi- 
cult thing  in  the  whole  range  of  practical 
military  art.  It  involves  fire  discipline  for 
the  squad,  fire  control  for  the  platoons,  and 
fire  direction  and  adjustment  for  the  com- 
panies and  battalion.  A  perfect  organiza- 
tion is  necessary  and  one  so  simple  that  it 
will  not  break  down  in  the  moral  stress  of 

the  battle.     We  have  the  same  problem  in 
7 


98         An  Army  of  the  People 

our  cavalry  for  it  will  be  our  chief  business 
to  dismount  and  fight  on  foot,  but  we  have 
other  duties  and  cannot  specialize  in  this 
as  the  infantry  must.  On  the  field  range 
to-day,  I  saw  the  proficiency  test  of  a  com- 
pany of  the  I32d  Volunteer  Infantry.  The 
company  was  aligned  behind  a  low  ridge. 
The  umpire  peeping  over  the  crest  told  the 
captain  that  somewhere  on  the  crest  nearly 
a  mile  away  there  was  reported  to  be  a  hostile 
trench  hidden  among  the  mesquite  bushes. 
I  searched  the  ground  with  my  field  glasses 
as  the  captain  did.  After  a  time  I  saw  a 
silhouette  khaki  target  dimly  outlining  a 
man  lying  down  between  the  mesquite 
bushes.  Presently  I  saw  another  and  then 
another  vaguely  outlining  a  front  of  perhaps 
a  hundred  yards.  The  other  targets,  if  any, 
were  concealed  in  the  brush.  The  captain's 
problem  was  to  determine  the  range  and 
divide  that  invisible  target  into  sectors  for 
his  platoons  so  that  all  of  their  fire  should  be 
distributed  over  it.  He  must  overcome  the 
psychological  tendency  for  individual  marks- 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp        99 

men  to  concentrate  their  fire  on  one  or  two 
conspicuous  points.  To  gain  fire  superiority 
he  must  deliver  a  sudden  and  effective  burst 
over  that  entire  line  and  he  must  make  his 
arrangements  so  that  neither  he  nor  his  men 
should  be  exposed  to  view  until  all  of  their 
rifles  should  crash  out  into  action. 

*'The  captain,  peering  over  the  crest  with 
his  field  glasses,  summoned  his  lieutenants 
and  platoon  sergeants.  They,  as  they  crawled 
to  a  place  beside  him,  directed  their  field 
glasses  toward  the  indicated  hne  and  after 
finding  it  each  received  a  part  of  the  whole 
target  as  the  special  target  of  his  platoon. 
Each  platoon  leader  then  in  the  same  way 
led  his  squad  leaders  to  the  crest  and  each 
squad  leader  received  the  slice  of  the  target 
for  his  seven  men.  It  was  to  be  surprise  fire 
and  there  was  time  for  this  deliberation.  In 
the  meantime  the  five  best  trained  estimators 
in  the  company  were  each  estimating  the 
range  to  be  averaged  by  the  captain  as  the 
initial  range  for  the  company  team.  Then 
and  not  till  then  did  the  company  advance. 


100       An  Army  of  the  People 

At  the  signal  each  private  soldier  crawled 
noiselessly  to  his  position  on  the  crest  as 
marked  by  the  line  of  corporals  and  soon 
each  man  had  his  objective  and  his  sight 
setting  inspected.  As  his  squad  was  inspected 
and  found  ready  each  corporal  signalled  his 
platoon  chief,  and  each  platoon  chief  likewise 
signalled  his  readiness  to  the  captain. 

* '  Not  till  all  were  ready,  did  the  captain  give 
the  signal,  and  then  at  a  blast  from  his  whistle 
the  whole  line  flashed  forth  in  a  rapid  burst 
of  fire  that  spattered  the  sandy  neighborhood 
of  the  vague  target  from  flank  to  flank.  The 
distribution  seemed  perfect  but  too  many 
spurts  of  dust  fell  short  of  the  target.  So 
with  a  shrill  whistle  to  attract  attention  and 
one  finger  pointed  up,  the  captain  signalled 
a  hundred-yard  increase  of  range  first  to  one 
platoon  and  then  to  the  other.  The  m.essage 
was  quickly  flashed  from  platoon  leader  to 
the  expectant  corporals,  and  in  an  instant 
the  center  line  of  the  puffs  of  dust  crawled 
closer  toward  the  target.  This  is  one  of  the 
simplest  exercises  in  modern  field  firing,  but 


The  Volunteers'  in  G!amp      ioi 

it  illustrates  the  difficulties  of  the  modern 
infantry  problem.  For  perfection  in  this 
work  the  summer  camps  are  all  too  short, 
but  fortunately  it  is  the  peculiar  work  of 
officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  and 
therefore  we  can  do  much  to  develop  it  in 
the  winter  correspondence  schools. 


**Camp  Kit  Carson,  September  4th. — As  we 
came  in  from  a  tactical  march  this  morning, 
we  passed  over  Brown  Mesa  and  I  halted  the 
squadron  where  we  could  overlook  the  camps 
of  the  other  troops  down  in  the  valley.  It 
was  a  splendid  picture.  On  the  plain  be- 
neath us  we  could  see  the  44th  Infantry 
Brigade  marching  in  review.  Of  course 
nothing  in  the  Volunteer  Army  can  touch  my 
squadron,  but  as  I  saw  those  solid  lines  of 
men  moving  along  like  some  mighty  machine, 
I  realized  that  the  'dough  boys'  have  been 
working  too.  Behind  a  low  hill  to  the  left 
I  saw  the  guns  of  the  light  artillery  battalion 
booming  away  at  target  practice,  while  on 


102       All  Army  of  the  People 

the  right  we  could  see  the  long  column  of  the 
horse  artillery  moving  at  a  trot  along  the 
winding  road  by  the  river.  At  the  far  river 
bend  the  engineers  were  just  finishing  a  pon- 
toon bridge,  and  the  ambulance  company  and 
the  field  hospital  stood  halted  at  the  bridge 
head,  apparently  waiting  to  cross.  From  the 
foothills  beyond  the  valley  heliograph  signals 
were  flashing,  and  on  the  mesa  beside  us  a 
field  wireless  station  was  clattering  a  message 
to  some  partner  buried  in  the  hills.  To  cap  it 
all,  just  as  we  resumed  the  march  the  two  vol- 
unteer biplanes  of  the  Third  Cavalry  Division 
came  roaring  over  us,  to  startle  our  horses 
and  break  our  march  column  for  an  instant. 


*'CAjyfP  Kit  Carson,  September  8th — We 
have  finished  our  course  in  the  School  of  the 
Regiment  and  are  preparing  for  the  man- 
euvers which  will  terminate  this  summer's 
camps.  The  maneuver  this  year  is  to  be  the 
march  of  our  force  of  all  arms,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Brigadier-General  Gideon  Buckles, 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp      103 

U.  S.  Volunteers,  the  Inspector-Instructor  of 
the  44th  Infantry  Brigade.  The  War  Depart- 
ment has  very  wisely  limited  us  this  year  to 
the  three  weeks'  tactical  march  of  a  force  of 
all  arms  with  one-sided  maneuvers  in  de- 
ployments for  attack  and  defense  and  practi- 
cal outpost  and  advance  guard  problems. 
We  have  made  fine  progress  this  summer, 
better  than  anybody  expected,  but  each  arm 
has  been  working  up  its  own  specialty  and 
we  are  not  developed  far  enough  yet  for  com- 
bined maneuvers.  We  are  therefore  to  have 
two  weeks  of  the  drill  of  a  reinforced  brigade 
on  varied  ground  and  under  a  progressive 
tactical  situation  in  which  the  enemy  will  be 
imaginary.  It  will  test  our  skill  in  marching 
and  camping,  and  lay  the  foundations  for 
three  weeks  of  tactical  maneuvers  next 
year.  During  the  winter  the  officers'  cor- 
respondence schools  will  include  tactical 
problems  under  the  applicatory  system,  with 
the  view  of  preparing  all  officers  for  regular 
two-sided  maneuvers. 


I04       An  Army  of  the  People 

''September  29th. — En  route,  The  great 
march  is  over  and  we  are  entrained  for  the 
homeward  journey.  The  field  tests  for  pro- 
visional officers  were  made  by  the  inspector- 
instructors  under  General  Buckles  during  the 
march.  Captain  Hurley  and  Captain  Blane 
both  qualified  as  volunteer  Majors  of  Cavalry 
so  I  presume  that  my  immediate  command  of 
the  First  Squadron  will  soon  terminate.  I 
would  like  to  feel  that  I  could  lead  these  men 
if  we  should  be  suddenly  called  in  the  field, 
but  under  the  Volunteer  Army  Regulations 
there  is  plenty  of  work  for  me  to  do.  I  must 
still  supervise  the  Government's  scheme  of 
military  education  within  the  squadron  and 
I  will  be  busy  all  winter  with  the  correspond- 
ence schools  for  officers  and  non-commis- 
sioned officers.  I  must  check  up  the  arms 
and  equipments  of  the  squadron  and  restore 
them  to  perfect  condition  for  a  sudden  call 
to  arms.  I  must  perfect  the  mobilization 
plans  of  my  squadron  and  devise  means  of 
communication  with  every  man  so  that  we 
can  form  for  the  front  on  twenty -four  hours* 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp      105 

notice.  I  must  prepare  for  the  mobilization 
of  horses  as  well  as  men  and  am  responsible 
for  the  proper  disbursement  of  the  annual 
forage  allowance.  I  must  prepare  car  sched- 
ules and  arrange  with  the  railway  people  for 
any  sudden  concentration  by  rail.  Next 
spring  the  new  year's  enrollment  for  recruits 
will  be  under  my  charge,  and  in  addition  I 
must  keep  up  my  general  professional  studies 
in  order  to  prepare  for  next  summer's  camps 
and  the  first  great  maneuver  season  next 
autumn.  We  have  done  well  this  year  for 
beginners.  Next  year  we  mean  to  do  still 
better. 


^^ September  30th. — En  route,  Before  I  left 
Deming  this  morning  I  congratulated  H^irley 
on  his  pending  promotion.  'Not  yet,'  he 
said;  'I  am  on  the  records  as  eligible,  but  I 
have  declined  the  nomination.  So  has  Blane. 
Maybe  I'll  change  my  mind  some  day  and 
decide  to  be  a  major  or  perhaps  even  a  briga- 
dier-general.    But  I  have  decided  to  go  to 


io6       An  Army  of  the  People 

your  school  as  a  captain  this  winter  anyway. 
If  we  have  a  war  this  year  we're  going  under 
you.  After  we  pump  you  dry,  perhaps 
Blane  or  I  will  take  your  job.'  No,  this 
isn't  generosity  to  you  nor  disinterestedness 
either.  It's  simply  a  square  deal  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, to  the  American  Volunteer  System, 
and  the  men  of  the  squadron.  In  the  mean- 
time I'm  going  to  take  off  my  uniform  and 
get  right  down  to  the  ore-buying  business.' 

"Tucson,  October  2d. — A  week  ago  to-day 
I  was  marching  at  the  head  of  a  war  strength 

^  The  Volunteer  Army  Register  for  192 1  carries  James 
Hurley  as  a  Colonel  of  Cavalry,  Major  Daniel  Blane  com- 
mands the  First  Squadron  of  Colonel  Hurley's  Regiment. 

Captain  Milford  Burr  of  the  regular  army  is  borne  on 
the  Volunteer  Army  Eligibility  Lists  as  follows:  "Squad- 
ron Inspector-Instructor,  July  i,  1916.  Assigned  as 
Regimental  Inspector-Instructor,  Jan.  i,  1917.  Qualified 
as  Brigade  Inspector-Instructor  of  Cavalry,  Sept.  15,  1917. 
Qualified  for  the  General  Staff  with  Troops,  Sept.  15, 
1918.  Especially  recommended  as  General  Staff  Officer 
with  Cavalry  Divisions  or  higher  commands." 

Captain  Burr  completed  his  tour  of  duty  with  the  Volun- 
teer Army,  June  30,  1920.  He  is  now  serving  a  tour  of 
foreign  service  with  the  Panama  Canal  Zone  Division  of 
the  regular  army. — Editor. 


The  Volunteers  in  Camp      107 

cavalry  squadron  fully  armed  and  in  the 
military  service  of  the  United  States.  To- 
day as  I  sit  in  my  office  comparing  property 
returns  with  my  mobilization  sergeants,  I 
realize  that  only  we  six  remain  on  that 
squadron's  active  list.  Officers  and  men 
are  back  at  work  on  their  ranches  and  farms. 
''As  I  look  from  my  window  toward  the 
railroad  siding  I  see  Captain  Daniel  Blane 
and  his  two  sons  in  overalls  and  straw  hats 
unloading  a  carload  of  contractors'  plows 
and  scrapers.  Corporal  Samuel  Riggs, 
booted  and  spurred  and  covered  with  a  wide 
Mexican  sombrero,  has  just  dismounted  from 
his  pinto  cow  pony  and  is  lending  the  captain 
a  hand." 


XI. 


THE   RESULTS  OF  THE    FIRST    SUMMER — SOME 
SECRETS  OF   SUCCESS 

Lieutenant  Burr's  diary  has  given  us  a 
picture  of  the  first  year's  work  of  the  new 
cavalry  volunteers  in  a  remote  region  of  the 
continent.  But  a  similar  work  was  going 
on  for  every  arm  and  in  every  part  of  the 
country.  Lieutenant  Burr  was  but  one  of 
eleven  hundred  inspector-instructors  who, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Division  Com- 
manders, formed  the  first  faculty  of  the 
National  Military  Schools.  On  September 
30,  1 91 6,  this  great  National  University  cele- 
brated its  first  "Commencement  Day."  On 
that  day  a  completely  organized  volunteer 
field  army  of  over  three  hundred  thousand 
men  was  arrayed  under  arms  beneath  the 

national  colors.     On  the  same  day  a  volun- 

108 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  109 

teer  coast  artillery  corps  of  some  twenty- 
seven  thousand  men  stood  at  the  guns  of  our 
seacoast  forts  and  completed  its  first  year's 
target  practice.  On  October  ist  this  mighty 
force  had  disappeared.  The  citizen  soldier 
had  returned  to  industrial  and  business  life. 
Nothing  remained  of  the  organized  volunteer 
army  save  a  small  corps  of  professional  mili- 
tary experts  who  were  necessary  to  maintain 
its  system  of  training  and  organization,  and 
to  keep  it  ready  for  mobilization. 

THE   EDUCATIONAL  ffiEAL 

The  success  of  the  first  year's  work  was 
the  natural  result  of  adherence  to  certain 
fundamental  principles  of  organization.  In 
the  first  place  the  War  Department  clearly 
recognized  the  mission  of  the  summer  schools 
and  the  volunteer  army  to  be  primarily 
educational.  It  was  to  be  a  great  school  of 
public  service  for  the  whole  people.  Having 
accepted  the  supremacy  of  the  educational 
mission,  all  details  of  administration  were 
subordinated  to  it  and  all  methods  of  instruc- 


no       An  Army  of  the  People 

tion  and  discipline  were  standardized  for  the 
whole  force  and  for  each  arm  of  the  service 
before  the  summer  work  began. 

Having  established  the  curriculum  for 
the  summer's  university,  the  War  Depart- 
ment then  selected  its  instructors  from  the 
regular  army  on  the  basis  of  positive  educa- 
tional qualification  to  instruct  in  one  or 
more  of  these  standardized  courses.  No 
army  officer  was  eligible  unless  his  record 
showed  affirmatively  his  qualification  to 
teach  American  volunteers  both  by  precept 
and  example.  And  no  officer  was  assigned 
to  teach  in  any  one  of  the  standardized  courses 
unless  he  was  specially  qualified  for  that 
particular  course.  Other  things  being  equal, 
qualified  officers  were  assigned  on  the  basis 
of  army  seniority,  but  seniority  was  not  per- 
mitted to  justify  the  assignment  of  any  officer 
to  any  task  for  which  he  was  not  specially 
qualified.  This  rule  worked  an  apparent 
hardship  at  first,  for  in  many  cases  army 
efficiency  records  are  negative  in  character, 
and  the  routine  of  a  garrison  army  furnishes 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  iii 

little  basis  for  determining  real  professional 
efficiency.  For  this  reason  some  most  com- 
petent officers  complained  that  they  were 
unjustly  excluded  from  certain  of  the  more 
important  eligibility  lists.  To  these  the 
War  Department  repHed:  ''It  will  be  the 
policy  of  the  Government  to  give  you  an 
opportunity  to  qualify  for  any  task  in  the 
training  service  of  the  volunteer  army. 
Establish  your  qualification  and  you  will  be 
assigned  accordingly."  One  officer  who  was 
assigned  as  a  Battalion  Inspector-Instructor 
of  Infantry  considered  himself  slighted  be- 
cause he  was  not  intrusted  with  the  instruc- 
tion of  an  infantry  regiment  as  were  several 
of  his  brother  officers  of  junior  grade.  But 
being  a  man  of  good  sense  and  real  professional 
ability,  he  accepted  his  school  of  the  battalion 
and  conducted  it  with  such  conspicuous 
success  that  on  the  first  readjustment  he  was 
intrusted  with  an  infantry  brigade. 

There  was  a  tendency  at  first  among  cer- 
tain ambitious  army  officers  to  seek  desirable 
volunteer  assignments  through  political  in- 


112       An  Army  of  the  People 

trigue.  In  this  they  were  apparently  justi- 
fied by  many  precedents  in  our  past  history. 
But  conditions  had  changed.  A  great  and 
earnest  pubHc  sentiment  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  new  volunteer  army,  and  the 
President's  sensible  efforts  in  behalf  of 
efficiency  were  supported  by  an  alert  and 
sympathetic  public  opinion. 

DECENTRALIZATION — THE    DIVISION  COMMANDER 

The  successful  administration  and  super- 
vision of  the  widely  scattered  volunteer  or- 
ganization were  assured  by  the  system  of 
decentralization  authorized  by  the  National 
Defense  Act.  In  selecting  the  ablest  officers 
of  the  regular  army  as  division  commanders 
of  volunteers  and  in  making  these  the  respon- 
sible legatees  of  his  military  authority,  the 
constitutional  Commander-in-Chief  estab- 
lished the  new  volunteer  army  on  the  basis 
of  assured  success. 

The  national  military  doctrine  and  the 
national  war  plans,  as  prepared  vin  the 
General  Staff  and  approved  by  the  Secretary 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  113 

of  War  and  the  President,  thus  passed  di- 
rectly to  the  division  commander  and  from 
him  through  the  inspector-instructors  to 
every  officer  and  man  in  the  force.  The 
division  commander  was  at  once  the  com- 
mander, the  supervising  instructor,  the  in- 
spector, and  the  administrative  head  of  the 
team  of  all  arms  assigned  to  his  control.  He 
was  responsible  to  the  President  for  its  peace 
training  and  its  immediate  preparedness  for 
war.  As  the  whole  system  of  administration, 
training,  and  mobilization  rested  upon  these 
officers,  their  appointment  in  time  of  peace 
was  restricted  by  law  to  selection  from  the 
professional  soldiers  of  the  regular  army. 

The  sound  military  basis  for  this  restric- 
tion lies  in  the  peculiar  function  of  the  divi- 
sion as  the  fundamental  army  unit  in  which 
the  several  arms  are  combined  as  a  co-ordi- 
nated fighting  team.  The  division  is  a  little 
army  complete  in  itself  in  which  the  infantry 
is  trained  to  use  the  support  of  cavalry,  artil- 
lery, engineers,  and  other  auxiliaries,  and  in 
which  the  special  arms  are  trained  to  support 


1 14       An  Army  of  the  People 

the  efforts  of  the  great  primary  arm.  A 
single  division  is  therefore  a  little  army  and 
a  large  army  is  simply  an  aggregation  of  di- 
visions. A  leader  or  instructor  of  a  division 
must  therefore  be  more  than  a  one- arm  expert, 
he  must  be  familiar  with  the  interplay  of  all 
the  components  of  the  modern  fighting  team. 

On  the  other  hand,  companies,  troops,  and 
batteries;  battalions,  squadrons,  regiments, 
and  brigades,  are  homogeneous  units,  and 
therefore  the  duties  of  captains,  majors, 
colonels,  and  brigadier-generals  of  the  same 
arm  differ  only  in  magnitude  and  not  in  kind. 
The  citizen  soldier  who  can  become  a  good 
captain  has  only  to  keep  on  growing  in  order 
to  become  a  good  colonel  or  brigadier-general. 
But  while  a  busy  volunteer  officer  from  civil 
life  might  expect  to  become  a  good  regimental 
or  brigade  commander,  it  was  quite  another 
thing  to  expect  him  to  become  an  expert  in 
the  combined  tactics  of  all  arms. 

It  was  therefore  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment under  the  National  Defense  Act  to 
select  the  commanders  of  divisions  and  higher 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  115 

military  units  from  the  best  professional 
talent  in  the  regular  army.  This  was  the 
guiding  rule  for  the  educational  and  adminis- 
trative system  in  time  of  peace  and  during 
the  first  strategic  deployment  for  war.  In 
time  of  peace,  therefore,  the  citizen  soldier 
could  not  rise  above  the  grade  of  brigadier- 
general,  but  in  actual  war  every  avenue  to 
promotion  lay  open  before  him  and  he  was 
free  to  rise  as  high  as  his  military  genius  and 
success  might  carry  him.  Thus  in  the  Ameri- 
can Volunteer  Army  as  in  the  old  Republican 
Army  of  France,  every  recruit  was  encouraged 
to  feel  that  he  carried  a  Field  Marshal's 
baton  in  his  knapsack. 

THE     CLASSIFICATION     OF     RECRUITS — APTITUDE 
AND  TRAINING 

Another  fundamental  principle  of  scien- 
tific organization  was  applied  in  the  assign- 
ment of  recruits  and  student  officers  to  the 
several  arms  of  the  service.  Branches  of 
the  volunteer  service  having  special  technical 
duties  were  recruited  from  those  men  who 


ii6      An  Army  of  the  People 

perform  corresponding  technical  duties  in 
civil  life. 

We  have  seen  how  the  cavalry  and  other 
branches  of  the  mounted  service  were  re- 
cruited from  men  who  are  already  practical 
horsemen.  To  make  a  cavalryman  out  of 
a  practical  horseman  it  is  only  necessary  to 
teach  him  the  military  applications  of  an 
art  he  already  knows.  It  is  true  that  modern 
military  science  makes  all  other  sciences 
auxiliary  to  it  and  that  the  service  of  the 
modern  army  requires  a  great  variety  of 
technical  experts  to  back  the  efforts  of  the 
plain  fighting  man.  But  under  a  scientific 
system  of  organization,  the  technical  expert 
is  the  easiest  recruit  to  find  and  the  quickest 
to  train  for  war.  It  is  true  that  he  requires 
an  elaborate  training,  but  he  has  already 
received  the  bulk  of  that  training  in  civil  life. 

The  man  who  runs  an  electric  motor  in  a 
modern  machine  shop  can  soon  learn  to  oper- 
ate the  most  elaborate  ammunition  hoist. 
The  machinist  who  can  operate  and  repair  a 
power  crane  in  the  locomotive  works  will 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  117 

soon  master  the  mechanism  of  a  disappearing 
gun.  The  trained  expert  who  can  use  loga- 
rithms and  work  a  sHde  rule  will  find  no  mys- 
tery in  the  precise  readings  of  a  coast  artillery 
plotting  board.  The  engineer  who  directs 
the  electric  current  in  a  city  lighting  plant 
will  find  nothing  startling  in  the  fortress 
power  room  or  the  mining  casemate.  For 
every  task  in  the  harbor  forts  of  New  York 
Harbor,  there  are  scores  of  skilled  artisans 
in  the  neighboring  city  who  are  already  ninety 
per  cent,  trained  to  man  it  in  war.  These 
potential  fortress  soldiers  are  already  living, 
working,  and  sleeping  within  two  or  three 
hours  of  their  logical  war  positions.  And  so 
throughout  the  military  service.  The  sur- 
geon in  civil  life  practices  the  same  profession 
as  the  army  surgeon  under  slightly  different 
conditions.  The  trained  hospital  corps  that 
treats  the  wounded  in  a  railroad  wreck  or  an 
industrial  accident  is  all  but  ready  for  the 
wounded  on  the  battlefield.  The  doctor  who 
makes  the  sanitary  survey  of  a  modern  city 
can  soon  prepare  himself  for  the  sanitary 


ii8      An  Army  of  the  People 

service  of  a  modern  camp.  The  drug  clerk 
in  the  corner  drug  store  is  compounding 
the  same  pills  as  the  hospital  sergeant  is 
compounding  in  the  dispensary  tent.  The 
chauffeur  of  the  auto-ambulance  in  the  city 
is  almost  ready  for  the  military  evacuation 
service.  Every  young  man  who  drives  an 
automobile  for  pleasure  or  business  in  civil 
life,  can  do  the  same  thing  for  the  auto- 
machine  gun,  the  ammunition  column,  or  the 
reconnaissance  officer  of  the  General  Staff. 
And  the  young  man  who  rides  his  aeroplane 
for  sport  needs  little  more  than  a  formal  en- 
rollment to  place  him  in  the  aero-corps  in  war. 
The  country  is  full  of  technical  experts 
for  every  branch  of  the  military  service.  To 
utilize  them  in  war  it  is  only  necessary  to 
show  each  one  his  place  in  the  organization  of 
the  volunteer  army,  and  to  coach  him  more  or 
less  in  the  military  applications  of  his  chosen 
art.  Indeed,  as  a  general  rule  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, the  more  we  require  of  scientific 
technique  in  the  modern  soldier,  the  less  we 
require  of  purely  tactical  training. 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  119 

But  the  infantry  soldier  cannot  be  bor- 
rowed half  made  from  the  industrial  arts  and 
trades.  This  plain,  slow-moving  fighting 
man,  upon  whom  the  decision  of  all  wars 
must  rest,  is  the  product  of  military  training 
and  of  military  training  only.  His  rifle  and 
his  bayonet  he  carries  in  his  hands  as  he 
struggles  forward  on  the  ground.  Modern 
science  provides  no  magical  mode  of  loco- 
motion and  no  artifice  of  security  for  him. 
He  marches  as  he  marched  in  the  days  of 
Hannibal,  and  he  wins  the  modern  battle 
with  the  final  clash  of  naked  steel  as  he  did 
in  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar.  Advance  he 
must  if  there  is  to  be  victory  for  us,  and  he 
must  advance  and  endure  grievous  losses 
with  nothing  to  aid  him  but  confidence  in 
his  officers  and  the  habit  of  discipline  and 
training.  He  is  not  burdened  with  technical 
devices  for  delivering  indirect  fire  from  behind 
the  hill,  nor  does  he  enjoy  the  moral  comfort 
of  such  a  method.  He  must  fight  his  battle 
out  in  the  open  where  the  shrapnel  is  burst- 
ing, and  he  must  win  the  decisive  fire  fight  by 


120      An  Army  of  the  People 

shooting  at  what  he  sees  and  against  an  enemy 
who  generally  sees  him.  This  truth  was  in 
Napoleon's  mind  when  he  pronounced  the 
dictum  that  *'in  war  the  moral  is  to  the 
material  as  three  to  one."  This  he  found  to 
be  true  at  Marengo  and  Austerlitz.  It  was 
still  true  at  Chancellorsville  and  Vicksburg. 
It  is  truer  than  ever  to-day  in  the  prolonged 
and  exhausting  nervous  strain  of  the  mod- 
ern battle.  The  success  of  the  volunteer 
army  as  an  organic  whole  was  largely  due 
to  a  recognition  of  these  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. All  branches  of  the  service  were 
organized  and  trained  and  advanced  to 
substantially  the  same  standard  of  effici- 
ency. But  the  training  of  each  special  or 
technical  branch  rested  upon  an  initial  basis 
of  aptitude  or  industrial  training  which  its 
recruits  brought  with  them  from  civil  life. 
It  is  remarkable  that,  until  the  passage  of 
the  National  Defense  Act,  this  first  prin- 
ciple of  correct  organization  had  always 
been  completely  ignored  in  our  military 
legislation. 


Results  of  the  First  Summer  121 

VACANCIES  IN  THE  REGULAR  ARMY 

We  have  seen  that  the  organization  of  the 
volunteer  army  required  the  detail  of  a  large 
number  of  inspector-instructors  to  the  volun- 
teer service.  These  officers  passed  to  the 
detached  service  list  of  the  regular  army  and 
when  the  resulting  vacancies  were  filled  by 
the  promotion  of  existing  officers  there  re- 
mained many  vacancies  in  the  grade  of 
second  lieutenant.  Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances the  selection  of  proper  candidates  to 
fill  these  vacancies  would  be  a  serious  prob- 
lem. But  through  the  provision  of  the  sum- 
mer camps  and  the  schools  of  application 
for  student  officers,  the  new  volunteer  army 
was  soon  prepared  to  return  to  the  regular 
army  as  many  officers  as  it  had  borrowed. 
After  promoting  the  West  Point  class  and 
the  usual  number  of  qualified  enlisted  men 
from  the  regular  army,  the  remaining  vacan- 
cies were  filled  by  the  ''civil  appointment" 
of  educated  young  men  who  had  qualified 
for  commission  in  the  summer  camps.     All 


122      An  Army  of  the  People 

of  these  appointees  took  the  usual  educational 
tests  required  by  law,  and  all  were  indorsed 
by  their  regimental  and  battalion  inspector- 
instructors  and  division  commanders  as 
specially  qualified  in  character,  aptitude,  and 
training  for  a  place  in  the  National  Officer 
Corps.  In  short,  the  summer  school  of  ap- 
plication furnished  a  continuous  test  of  effi- 
ciency and  character  extending  over  a  period 
of  three  months,  and  was  therefore  the  best 
examination  for  appointment  from  civil  life 
that  we  have  ever  had  in  our  military  history. 


XII. 

THE  winter's  work  AND  THE  NEW  ENROLL- 
MENT— THE   FINAL  ORGANIZATION 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  summer  camps 
the  great  body  of  recruits  returned  to  their 
places  in  civil  life.  No  further  military  duties 
were  to  be  expected  of  them  until  next  year's 
autumn  maneuvers.  Until  that  time  they 
were  exempt  from  all  military  obligation  or 
duty  unless  as  impending  war  should  call 
them  to  the  colors.  But  effective  arrange- 
ments were  made  to  continue  the  military 
training  of  those  members  of  the  force  who 
had  accepted  appointments  as  officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers.  Correspondence 
schools  for  officers  were  organized  in  each 
division  with  the  regular  inspector-instruc- 
tors acting  as  instructors  under  the  coordi- 
nating control  of  the   division  commander. 

123 


124      An  Army  of  the  People 

The  general  outline  of  the  work  in  these 
schools  was  standardized  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment and  based  upon  the  so-called  applica- 
tory  method. 

This  practical  method  of  military  training 
appears  to  have  been  invented  by  Frederick 
the  Great,  and  as  finally  perfected  under 
von  Moltke,  has  become  the  basis  of  tactical 
training  in  all  modern  armies.  It  is  not  an 
academic  or  theoretical  method,  but  it  is 
something  like  the  modern  practical  "case 
method"  of  studying  and  teaching  law.  In 
the  applicatory  method  the  student  is  given 
a  "military  situation"  and  is  required  to 
solve  it  upon  the  map  or  the  ground.  In  the 
"situation"  he  is  given  an  assumed  body  of 
troops  which  he  is  supposed  to  command; 
the  mission  of  his  command  is  given  or  im- 
plied, and  he  is  also  given  certain  information 
with  reference  to  the  enemy.  In  short  he  is 
given  precisely  the  same  intellectual  problem 
that  is  presented  to  a  commander  under  war 
conditions  in  the  field.  The  student's  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  is  not  to  be  presented  in 


The  Final  Organization       125 

the  form  of  a  general  essay  on  military  art. 
He  is  simply  required  to  write  down  his  de- 
cision, to  state  his  plan  of  action,  and  to  write 
down  the  order  which  he  would  issue  to  his 
troops.  In  short  it  is  a  method  of  practicing 
the  profession  of  arms  in  time  of  peace.  It 
aims  at  cultivating  tactical  judgment  and 
not  merely  tactical  knowledge.  The  com- 
mand of  troops  in  war  is  for  practical  men 
and  not  for  pedants.  It  thus  appears  that 
the  applicatory  method  is  more  than  an 
educational  system,  it  is  also  a  means  of 
discovering  and  developing  tactical  capacity. 
In  the  hands  of  a  competent  instructor  it 
becomes  a  tactical  measuring  rod  and  is  an 
instrument  of  precision  by  means  of  which 
pretenders  to  the  art  of  commanding  troops 
can  be  detected  in  time  of  peace.  Nor  is 
the  applicatory  method  only  adapted  for 
the  use  of  higher  commanders.  In  the  hands 
of  a  competent  instructor  it  can  be  employed 
to  train  or  test  a  corporal  in  the  conduct  of  a 
small  patrol  or  a  lieutenant-general  in  com- 
mand of  a  field  army.     As  this  wonderful 


126      An  Army  of  the  People 

educational  method  is  peculiarly  appropriate 
for  correspondence  schools,  it  was  rightly- 
made  the  basis  of  the  winter  schools  for 
volunteer  officers. 

Each  brigade  was  organized  as  a  winter 
correspondence  college  of  military  art  for  the 
instruction  of  the  volunteer  officers  commis- 
sioned in  the  brigade.  In  each  of  these 
brigade  colleges  the  brigade  inspector- 
instructor  acted  as  College  President  and 
supervised  a  faculty  consisting  of  the  regular 
army  officers  attached  to  regiments  and 
battalions.  Similar  schools  were  founded 
for  volunteer  officers  of  the  auxiliary  arms 
and  supply  corps.  And  finally  the  division 
commander,  as  president  of  the  military 
university,  coordinated  the  educational  work 
of  the  whole  division  and  thus  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  practical  training  in  the  combined 
tactics  of  the  three  arms. 

But,  while  most  of  the  winter  school  work 
was  conducted  by  the  correspondence  method, 
there  were  frequent  opportunities  for  personal 
contact    between    instructors    and    student 


The  Final  Or^-anization        127 


officers.  The  duties  of  the  inspector-instruc- 
tors in  connection  with  mobilization  and 
concentration  plans  required  some  official 
travel  within  their  respective  districts.  When 
they  visited  any  community  for  these  pur- 
poses, the  volunteer  officers  of  the  region  were 
assembled  for  conferences,  lectures,  war 
games,  and  terrain  exercises.  Measures  were 
thus  provided  for  transmitting  the  nation's 
standardized  military  doctrine  to  every  mem- 
ber of  the  officer  corps.  But  this  was  not 
sufficient.  The  winter's  training  must  also 
extend  to  non-commissioned  officers  and 
selected  privates  who  were  encouraged  to 
volunteer  as  candidates  for  promotion.  For 
this  purpose  non-commissioned  officers' 
schools  were  established  in  each  company 
and  were  conducted  by  the  company  offi- 
cers under  the  supervision  of  the  battalion 
inspector-instructor.  The  scope  of  these 
schools  was  also  standardized  and  the  courses 
were  so  arranged  that  as  the  company 
officer  mastered  any  subject  in  his  own 
schools,    he    transmitted    the    elements    of 


128      An  Army  of  the  People 

the  same  subject  to  his  non-commissioned 
subordinates. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  outline  that 
the  work  of  officers  and  non-commissioned 
officers  was  not  restricted  to  the  summer, 
and  that  spare  moments  each  winter  were 
devoted  to  systematic  and  progressive  prepa- 
ration for  the  approaching  maneuver  season. 
This  program  made  considerable  but  not 
unreasonable  demands  upon  their  time.  For 
ambitious  officers  the  work  was  a  pleasure. 
For  officers  of  the  other  kind  it  unerringly 
pointed  to  elimination.  But  this  was  not  a 
detriment  to  the  service,  for  thousands  of 
eager  and  ambitious  young  Americans  were 
striving  for  promotion  to  the  Officer  Corps 
of  the  National  Volunteer  Army. 

THE  SKIMP  RESOLUTION 

The  success  of  the  first  year's  work  estab- 
lished the  new  national  army  on  a  solid 
basis  of  popularity  and  it  soon  became  appar- 
ent that  there  would  be  another  great  enroll- 
ment in  191 7.     Early  in  19 17  a  movement 


The  Final  Organization        129 

under  Senator  Skimp  was  organized  with  the 
view  of  limiting  the  further  growth  of  the 
force.  As  its  enHsted  strength  was  now  about 
320,000  men  he  proposed  that  its  maximum 
legal  strength  be  placed  at  420,000  men.  In 
the  course  of  a  debate  on  this  subject,  the 
following  remarks  were  made  by  Senator 
Straightedge : 

"Mr.  President,  to  place  any  limit  on  the 
strength  of  the  Volunteer  Army  is  to  under- 
mine the  whole  system.  We  have  made  it  a 
part  of  the  free  school  system  of  America. 
When  you  founded  our  modern  scientific 
volunteer  system,  you  rejected  the  principle 
of  conscription  and  announced  that  here- 
after America  would  intrust  her  defense  to 
her  army  of  trained  volunteers.  Shall  we 
now  apply  the  principle  of  conscription  to 
the  other  end  and  say  to  our  young  men, 
'We  won't  compel  any  of  you  to  come  to  our 
national  school,  but  we  have  decided  to 
compel  some  of  you  to  keep  out?  It  is 
against  our  traditional  policy  to  draft  you 
into  the  military  service,  but  we  have  de- 


130      An  Army  of  the  People 

cided  that  we  will  have  to  draft  you  out  of 
it. 

"Mr.  President,  the  Senator  proposes  to 
limit  the  force  to  420,000  men.  If  we  adopt 
his  views  we  will  be  able  to  train  only  one 
hundred  thousand  recruits  in  the  summer 
camps  this  year.  But  suppose  three  hundred 
thousand  young  men  should  volunteer.  I 
am  assured  at  the  War  Department  that  this 
is  the  probable  number.  In  that  event, 
under  the  terms  of  this  resolution,  we  will 
have  to  reject  more  than  two- thirds  of  them. 
We  will  have  to  disappoint  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  young  Americans  who  ask 
you  to  complete  their  civic  education  by 
training  them  to  serve  you  in  war.  I  am 
informed,  Mr.  President,  that  the  proposed 
restriction  is  on  the  ground  of  economy. 
But  where  is  the  economy  ?  We  have  already 
demonstrated  that  the  volunteer  army  is  the 
most  economical  element  of  our  whole  na- 
tional system.  In  time  of  peace  it  costs  less 
to  maintain  a  war-strength  division  in  the 
volunteer  army  than  it   does  to  maintain  a 


The  Final  Organization       131 

single  war-strength  regiment  in  the  regular 
establishment.  We  can  maintain  twenty 
men  in  the  volunteer  coast  artillery  for  the 
cost  of  one  man  in  the  regular  corps.'* 

Senator  Skimp 's  resolution  found  no  favor- 
able echo  in  national  public  opinion  and  it 
never  reached  a  vote  in  Congress. 

THE  ENROLLMENT    OF   I917 

The  second  year's  enrollment  was  much 
simpler  than  that  of  the  first  year.  In  the 
enrollment  of  191 6,  it  was  necessary,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  reach  prospective  candidates 
through  the  Post  Office  Department  and 
much  unavoidable  confusion  and  error  re- 
sulted. In  the  second  year  the  inspector- 
instructors  and  the  mobilization  sergeants 
formed  an  organized  recruiting  service  and 
the  resulting  descriptive  lists  and  enlistment 
papers  were  prepared  with  accuracy  and 
precision.  The  enrollment  resulted  in  314,- 
266  recruits  for  the  field  army  and  2/\,2'j'j 
recruits  for  the  volunteer  coast  artillery  corps. 

As   a  large   number   of   National   Guard 


132      An  Army  of  the  People 

officers  had  failed  to  apply  for  permission 
to  attend  the  special  officers'  schools  in  191 6, 
and  as  many  of  them  now  desired  to  qualify 
for  commission  in  the  volunteer  service,  it 
was  decided  to  continue  the  officers'  schools 
of  application  for  one  more  year.  But  the 
rule  was  established  that  thereafter  promo- 
tion within  the  national  volunteers  would 
be  from  the  bottom,  and  that  no  original 
commissions  for  advanced  rank  would  be 
issued.  It  was  thus  to  be  the  future  policy 
that  ambitious  citizens  who  aspired  to  com- 
mand volunteers  must  come  in  at  the  bottom 
as  young  men,  take  the  regular  recruit  course, 
and  then  work  up  according  to  seniority  and 
demonstrated  capacity.  It  was  the  spirit 
both  of  the  law  and  of  the  President's  regu- 
lations that  no  man  should  be  promoted  to 
any  grade  until  he  had  affirmatively  demon- 
strated his  capacity  to  perform  the  duties  of 
that  grade,  but  that  in  any  group  of  candi- 
dates so  qualified  the  senior  should  first  be 
entitled  to  promotion. 

In    191 7,    3423    officers  of   the    National 


The  Final  Organization       133 

Guard  enrolled  for  the  summer  schools,  and 
acted  as  recruit  instructors  under  the  regular 
inspector-instructors.  After  that  year  the 
assistant  drillmasters  for  the  recruit  camps 
were  drawn  from  the  volunteer  army  itself. 
A  sufficient  corps  for  this  purpose  was  formed 
from  those  young  officers  and  non-commis- 
sioned officers  who  volunteered  to  serve 
through  an  additional  summer  camp  in  order 
to  prepare  themselves  for  promotion. 

FINAL   ORGANIZATION 

The  enrollment  statistics  of  191 6  and  191 7 
when  taken  together  gave  some  indication 
as  to  the  probable  normal  enrollment  in  the 
future.  In  191 6,  out  of  a  total  enrollment  of 
333,376  recruits,  198,273  were  nineteen  years 
old,  or  of  the  minimum  age  authorized  by  law. 
The  remainder  were  older  men  of  various 
ages  within  the  maximum  authorized  age  of 
thirty.  In  191 7  out  of  a  total  enrollment  of 
338,503  there  were  201,873  recruits  of  the 
minimum  age,  that  is  young  men  who  were 
too  young  to  enroll  in  19 16.    In  other  words, 


134      An  Army  of  the  People 

the  enrollments  of  these  two  years  indicated 
an  annual  enrollment  of  about  two  hundred 
thousand  young  men  just  arriving  at  the 
age  of  military  service.  This  estimate  was 
confirmed  by  other  and  more  detailed  analysis 
of  the  statistics  and  by  investigations  made 
by  the  inspector-instructors  in  the  various 
parts  of  the  country. 

This  investigation  had  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  future  organization  of  the  entire 
force,  for  the  first  two  enrollments  had  al- 
ready absorbed  most  of  the  older  men  who 
were  free  to  enlist  and  in  a  few  years  practic- 
ally all  of  the  recruits  enlisted  would  probably 
be  young  men  of  minimum  age.  Assuming 
this  to  be  true,  it  was  now  possible  to  estimate 
the  probable  maximum  number  of  men  with 
the  colors  under  normal  conditions.  This 
estimate  is  shown  as  follows: 

Recruits  in  summer  camps  of  in- 
struction      200,000 

Second-year  men  available  for  ma- 
neuvers      200,000 


The  Final  Organization       135 

Third-year    men  vailable    for    ma- 
neuvers    200,000 

Re-enlisted  men  serving  as  non-com- 
missioned officers,  technical  experts, 
and  other  re-enlisted  aspirants  for 
promotion 120,000 

Total  strength  of  volunteer  army        720,000 

Taking  720,000  as  the  normal  strength  of 
the  volunteer  army  for  the  next  ten  years, 
the  ultimate  organization  was  fixed  as 
follows : 

Fifteen  army  corps  (enlisted  strength 

per  corps  41,000) 615,000 

Six     cavalry     divisions     (enlisted 

strength  per  division  8000) 48,000 

Coast  Artillery  Corps 57, 000 

Total  for  volunteer  army 720,000 

Now  as  the  enrollment  for  the  field  army 
was  already  620,939  or  nearly  94  per  cent,  of 
normal,  as  the  enrollment  of  the  coast  artil- 
lery was  already  51,351  or  90  per  cent,  of 


136      An  Army  of  the  People 

normal,  and  as  the  shortage  in  both  services 
would  certainly  be  filled  before  the  19 16  re- 
cruits should  pass  to  the  reserve,  it  was  wisely 
decided  to  give  the  volunteer  army  its  final 
organization  and  to  test  it  in  the  maneuvers 
of  191 7.  As  a  result  of  this  decision  each  of 
the  fifteen  divisions  organized  in  19 16  was 
expanded  into  an  army  corps  of  two  divisions, 
and  the  three  cavalry  divisions  were  formed 
into  six  divisions  of  six  regiments  each.  It 
was  expected  that  these  organizations  would 
reach  full  strength  by  19 19,  and  that  after 
that  year  there  would  be  a  gradually  increas- 
ing surplus  corresponding  to  the  normal 
increase  in  population.  The  War  Depart- 
ment proposed  to  utilize  this  growing  surplus 
in  the  formation  of  special  auxiliaries  assign- 
able to  field  armies  upon  mobilization. 


XIIT. 

THE     NATIONAL    VOLUNTEER     ARMY     TO-DAY 

(1921) 

The  recent  maneuvers  of  1921  concluded 
the  sixth  year  of  the  National  Volunteer 
Army.  These  maneuvers  are  of  special 
interest,  because  in  addition  to  providing 
the  usual  field  practice  for  troops  and  higher 
commanders,  they  involved  a  comprehensive 
test  of  the  concentration  plans  developed  by 
Major-General  Shunt,'  Chief  of  the  U.  S. 
Volunteer  Railway  Transportation  Service. 
On  September  15,  1921,  the  troops  were 
operating  as  follows : 

I .     In  New  England,  the  I  Army  Corps,  the 
1st  Cavalry  Division,  and  the  New  England 

*  General  Shunt  is  well  known  in  civil  life  as  the  general 
manager  of  the  Pennsylvania  System,  and  as  president  of 
the  National  Traffic  Managers'  Association. — Editor. 

137 


138      An  Army  of  the  People 

Coast  Artillery  Corps  were  maneuvering  in 
the  coast  defenses  of  Boston. 

2.  A  field  army,  consisting  of  the  II.,  III., 
IV.  Army  Corps  and  the  2d  Cavalry  Division, 
supported  the  harbor  defenses  of  New  York 
against  an  attack  by  a  large  detachment  of 
the  regular  army  expeditionary  force,  which 
landed  on  Long  Island  under  the  convoy  of 
the  Atlantic  battle  fleet. 

3.  The  two  divisions  of  the  V.  Army 
Corps  operated  against  each  other  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  under  the  observation  of 
the  corps  commander  who  acted  as  chief 
umpire. 

4.  The  VI.  Army  Corps  was  engaged  in 
similar  divisional  maneuvers  in  the  vicinity 
of  Kenesaw  Mountain  and  Marietta  in 
northern  Georgia. 

5.  A  field  army,  consisting  of  the  VIII. 
and  IX.  Army  Corps  and  the  2d  Cavalry 
Division  based  on  South  Bend,  Indiana, 
defended  the  crossings  of  the  Kalamazoo 
River  against  a  superior  force  invading  from 
the  direction  of  Port  Huron.     The  invading 


National  Volunteer  Army  (1921)   139 

army  was  represented  by  the  VII.,  X.  and 
XL  Army  Corps,  and  the  3d  Cavalry  Division. 

6.  One  division  of  the  XII.  Army  Corps 
based  on  Grand  Forks,  North  Dakota,  de- 
fended the  Red  River  Valley  against  the 
remainder  of  the  corps  and  the  4th  Cavalry 
Division  which  represented  an  enemy  invad- 
ing from  the  direction  of  Winnipeg. 

7.  The  XIII.  Army  Corps,  concentrated 
in  the  vicinity  of  Dallas,  Texas,  had  divisional 
maneuvers  similar  to  those  described  for  the 
V.  and  VI .  Army  Corps  in  Virginia  and 
northern  Georgia. 

8.  As  the  XIV.  Army  Corps  and  the  5th 
Cavalry  Division  were  widely  dispersed  over 
the  Northwestern,  Mountain  and  Pacific 
States  it  was  impracticable  to  concentrate 
them  for  maneuvers  in  1921.  Brigade  and 
regimental  maneuvers  were  held,  however, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  division  com- 
manders and  a  considerable  detachment  of 
all  arms  was  concentrated  in  the  coast  de- 
fenses of  Puget  Sound. 

9.  As  the  XV.  Army  Corps  and  the  6th 


140      An  Army  of  the  People 

Cavalry  Division  also  are  widely  dispersed 
throughout  the  Southwest,  their  autumn 
maneuvers  were  similar  to  those  described 
for  the  Northwestern  troops.  In  this  case, 
however,  the  volunteer  troops  available  for 
coast  defense  maneuvers  were  concentrated 
near  San  Francisco  Bay  where,  reinforced  by 
a  part  of  the  regular  army  garrison  they  de- 
fended the  rear  of  the  seacoast  forts  against 
a  raiding  party  of  regulars  and  sailors  which 
landed  north  of  Monterey  under  cover  of  the 
Pacific  battle  fleet. 

At  the  annual  inspections  with  which  the 
maneuvers  terminated,  the  enlisted  strength 
of  the  Volunteer  Field  Army  stood  at  704,091, 
or  41,091  enlisted  men  in  excess  of  the  normal 
predicted  strength  of  663,000.  On  the  same 
day  the  men  of  the  volunteer  coast  artillery 
corps  were  inspected  at  their  posts  in  our 
continental  seacoast  fortifications.  Their 
enlisted  strength  was  found  to  be  59,337, 
or  2,337  in  excess  of  its  normal  predicted 
strength.  These  trained  volunteers,  all  of 
whom  resided  near  their  war  stations,  were 


National  Volunteer  Army  (1921)  141 

sufficient  with  the  regular  coast  artillery 
garrisons  to  form  the  full  war-strength  man- 
ning details  of  the  national  harbor  defenses. 
The  total  enlisted  strength  of  the  first  line 
of  the  Volunteer  Army  was  thus  seen  to  be 
763,428  on  September  30,  192 1.  But  this 
does  not  represent  the  total  trained  volunteer 
personnel  available  for  war.  The  men  with 
the  colors  simply  represent  the  undergradu- 
ates of  the  American  University  of  National 
Defense.  On  September  30,  1 92 1 ,  the  alumni 
or  graduates  of  prior  years  numbered  721,086 
exclusive  of  reserve  officers.  The  total  num- 
ber of  trained  national  citizenry  is  thus  seen 
to  be  merely  a  million  and  a  half. 

While  the  enlisted  men  of  the  volunteer 
reserves  are  not  required  to  attend  the  annual 
maneuvers,  definite  plans  have  been  made 
for  their  employment  in  war.  Upon  the 
mobilization  of  the  first  line  army,  the  re- 
serves are  to  be  assembled  at  depots  near 
their  homes.  Under  the  plans  for  1921, 
three  hundred  thousand  will  immediately  be 
available  to  replace  losses  at  the  front,  three 


142      An  Army  of  the  People 

hundred  thousand  will  immediately  be  formed 
into  fifteen  reserve  divisions,  and  the  force 
of  trained  reserve  officers  and  non-commis- 
sioned officers  will  also  be  prepared  to  under- 
take the  immediate  training  of  a  million  war 
recruits.  All  of  these  arrangements  are 
definitely  organized  and  are  to  be  supervised 
by  those  regular  inspector-instructors  who 
are  not  called  to  the  front  with  the  first-line 
army.  While  the  enlisted  reservists  are  not 
required  to  attend  maneuvers,  every  reserve 
officer  or  non-commissioned  officer  is  in- 
spected each  year  and  assigned  to  a  specific 
task  in  the  annual  mobilization  plan. 

MILITARY  TRAINING   IN   THE    SCHOOLS 

Another  duty  performed  by  the  officer 
corps  of  the  citizenry  army  is  the  conduct  of 
elementary  military  training  in  the  public 
schools.  There  are  officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  of  the  national  force  resid- 
ing in  every  school  district,  and  in  each  school 
district  one  or  more  of  them  instruct  their 
schoolboy  neighbors   in    the  mechanism   of 


National  Volunteer  Army  (1921)  143 

drill  and  the  practical  art  of  rifle  shooting. 
Indeed  in  many  cases  the  schoolmaster  is 
himself  an  officer  in  the  national  force. 

Thus  as  time  goes  on  the  education  of  the 
citizen  soldier  is  well  begun  before  he  is  for- 
mally enrolled  in  the  National  Volunteer 
Army.  In  some  States  military  drill  in  the 
public  schools  has  been  made  compulsory,  but 
this  provision  has  been  found  unnecessary 
as  public  sentiment  has  established  the  con- 
viction that  education  for  self-respecting 
citizenship  must  include  some  preparation 
for  national  defense.  Some  young  men  evade 
this  duty  as  they  evade  other  civic  obliga- 
tions, but  their  attitude  must  become  more 
and  more  apologetic  in  the  face  of  a  growing 
presumption  that  they  are  probably  some- 
thing less  than  able-bodied  men. 

THE  MILITARY    RAILWAY  SERVICE 

An  interesting  comment  on  the  maneuvers 
of  1 92 1  is  contained  in  the  following  extract 
from  General  Shunt's  report  of  the  Volunteer 
Railway  Service:     "After  several  years   of 


144      An  Army  of  the  People 

practical  experience  we  have  gradually  de- 
veloped a  scientific  system  for  the  movement 
of  large  bodies  of  troops  by  rail.  In  a  coun- 
try so  vast  as  ours,  the  precision  of  these 
arrangements  is  of  vast  importance  in  any 
scheme  of  national  defense.  Our  progress 
since  191 6  is  remarkable,  and  our  success  is 
due  largely  to  the  sensible  arrangement 
through  which  practical  railroad  operators 
have  been  entrusted  with  organizing  the 
military  railway  service.  On  the  whole  the 
operations  of  the  service  during  the  recent 
maneuvers  have  been  satisfactory.  We 
have  found  some  defects  and  have  already 
provided  corrective  measures.  No  doubt  we 
will  have  something  to  improve  every  year. 

"But  the  maneuvers  have  demonstrated 
that  we  have  a  highly  organized  military 
transportation  service.  I  am  now  con- 
vinced that  we  can  deploy  three  hundred 
thousand  fully  equipped  troops  at  the  various 
concentration  points  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
within  twenty-four  hours  after  mobilization 
is  completed,  or  within  sixty  hours  after  the 


National  Volunteer  Army  (1921)  145 

first  mobilization  notice.  We  can  increase 
this  force  by  one  hundred  thousand  men 
every  twenty-four  hours  thereafter  until  it 
reaches  a  total  of  six  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  by  the  end  of  the  seventh  day  we  can 
also  deliver  fifteen  reserve  divisions,  three 
hundred  thousand  strong.  We  can  deploy 
upon  our  northern  or  southern  frontier  in 
about  the  same  time.  On  account  of  the 
wide  area  of  sparsely  settled  country  in  the 
mountain  and  plain  regions  a  full  strategic 
concentration  on  the  Pacific  coast  will  take 
from  three  to  four  days  longer  than  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard." 

In  referring  to  the  success  of  the  joint  army 
and  navy  maneuvers  of  1921,  a  prominent 
foreign  naval  authority  has  recently  made 
the  following  interesting  comment:  ''A  suc- 
cessful invasion  of  the  United  States,  even 
if  the  American  navy  should  lose  command 
of  the  sea,  must  now  be  regarded  as  beyond 
the  bounds  of  possibility.  While  the  short- 
service  American  volunteers  are  not  so 
highly  trained  as  the  regular  soldiers  of  con- 


10 


146      An  Army  of  the  People 

tinental  Europe  or  Japan,  still  they  are 
formed  and  organized  and  capable  of  im- 
mediate combined  action.  Even  the  most 
powerful  foreign  army  cannot  exert  its  com- 
bined force  in  America  at  one  time.  Trans- 
oceanic invasion  must  come  in  successive 
waves,  and  each  wave  of  invasion  will  be 
smothered  by  sheer  weight  of  superior  num- 
bers before  the  next  wave  can  come.  Clause- 
witz  has  pointed  out  that  even  the  best 
troops  under  a  Frederick  the  Great  or  a 
Napoleon  cannot  overcome  odds  much  more 
than  two  to  one." 


XIV. 

AT     LAST — AN    AMERICAN    MILITARY     POLICY 

The  successful  organization  of  the  American 
Volunteer  Army  has  resulted  in  a  solution  of 
the  whole  problem  of  national  defense.  Even 
so  late  as  19 15,  there  was  no  definite  military 
policy  and  the  several  components  of  the  def- 
ense system  were  uncoordinated  and  appar- 
ently indeterminate  both  in  dimension  and  in 
form.  This  was  found  to  be  the  natural  result 
of  attempting  to  build  parts  of  the  superstruc- 
ture of  a  house  before  determining  its  plan 
and  foundations.  But  with  the  formation 
of  the  National  Volunteer  Army  this  found- 
ation was  found  to  be  established  not  only  in 
substantial  strength,  but  in  the  durable  forms 
prescribed  by  national  political  tradition. 
But  a  correct  military   organization  has 

turned  out  to  be  something  more  than  was 

147 


148      An  Army  of  the  People 

expected.  Provision  for  the  national  de- 
fense was  one  of  the  specific  objects  of  the 
national  union  as  pronounced  in  the  pre- 
amble to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  But  for  more  than  a  century  and  a 
quarter  the  place  for  this  stone  had  remained 
unfilled  with  resulting  instability  in  the  whole 
structure  of  our  national  polity.  We  have 
learned  at  last  that  sound  military  organiza- 
tion is  simply  a  part  of  sound  political  organi- 
zation, and  that  to  neglect  it  is  to  neglect  one 
of  the  principal  objects  for  which  govern- 
ments are  formed.  With  the  successful  orga- 
nization of  THE  ARMY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  the 
foundations  of  our  Government  are  now  com- 
plete, and  American  diplomacy  and  American 
finance  are  erected  upon  a  stable  foundation. 
Our  statesmen  may  now  deal  with  instru- 
ments of  precision.  We  have  passed  from 
the  age  of  astrology  to  the  age  of  astronomy. 

THE   REGULAR   ARMY 

The  reorganization  of  the  regular  army 
was  not  completed  until  the  spring  of  19 18. 


An  American  Military  Policy  149 

With  the  final  settlement  of  the  principle 
that  the  national  volunteers  form  our  logical 
and  sufficient  defense  against  invasion,  it 
was  universally  accepted  that  the  regular 
army  should  be  restricted  to  these  special 
functions  which  cannot  be  performed  by  a 
citizen  soldiery  and  which  therefore  must  be 
met  by  an  organized  body  of  professional 
soldiers.  This  restriction  of  the  regular 
army  to  certain  specific  and  limited  duties 
did  not  diminish  its  real  importance  in  our 
national  system.  It  simply  defined  the 
professional  soldiers'  proper  mission  in  our 
national  life  and  furnished  the  basis  for  a 
practical  and  definite  organization. 

So  long  as  legislative  proposals  for  the 
regular  army  were  vague  and  chaotic;  so  long 
as  its  proper  limits  and  aspirations  were  un- 
measured or  unknown;  and  so  long  as  some 
of  its  advocates  urged  the  necessity  of  a  vast 
but  undefined  expansion  in  defiance  of 
cherished  political  traditions,  the  problem 
of  scientific  military  legislation  was  almost 
hopeless.     But  when  the  success  of  the  great 


150      An  Army  of  the  People 

volunteer  army  removed  the  last  pretext 
for  a  large  standing  force,  jealousy  of  the 
regular  army  as  a  political  institution  dis- 
appeared and  Congress  proceeded  to  ascer- 
tain its  legitimate  needs  and  to  provide  them 
by  appropriate  legislation.  As  a  basis  for 
legislative  action,  Congress  was  guided  by 
the  following  general  principles  which  were 
universally  endorsed  by  public  opinion : 

1.  The  most  important  function  of  the 
regular  army  is  to  provide  and  develop  the 
corps  of  highly  trained  professional  experts 
who  maintain  the  peace  administration  and 
training  of  the  volunteer  army  and  keep  it 
prepared  and  equipped  for  prompt  and  order- 
ly deployment  in  war.  In  providing  for  the 
detail  of  inspector-instructors  and  mobiliza- 
tion sergeants  from  the  regular  army.  Con- 
gress had  already  recognized  this  principle 
in  the  National  Defense  Act  of  19 16. 

2.  The  garrisons  of  all  of  our  over-seas 
possessions  must  be  composed  of  regular 
soldiers.  As  the  naval  situation  may  not 
permit  the  reinforcement  of  these  garrisons 


An  American  Military  Policy  151 

at  the  outbreak  of  war,  they  must  be  main- 
tained at  war  strength  in  time  of  peace. 

3.  The  Panama  Canal  Zone  must  be  ab- 
solutely impregnably  held  not  only  by  the 
forts  at  its  terminals  but  by  a  regular  mobile 
garrison  of  unquestioned  capacity  to  defeat 
all  land  attacks. 

4.  All  naval  bases  covering  the  approaches 
to  the  Panama  Canal  or  necessary  for  the 
war  operations  of  our  fleet,  must  be  impreg- 
nably held  by  regular  garrisons  at  full  war 
strength. 

5.  Our  coast  fortresses  at  home  must  be 
manned  by  a  sufficient  nucleus  of  professional 
coast  artillerists  to  form  the  basis  for  the 
training,  organization,  and  mobilization  of 
the  Volunteer  Coast  Artillery  Corps. 

6.  There  must  also  be  a  mobile  reserve  of 
regulars  stationed  in  the  United  States  and 
constantly  ready  to  act  as  an  expeditionary 
force.  This  force  must  be  prepared  to  serve 
a  peace  warrant  in  disturbed  regions  within 
our  sphere  of  influence,  or  to  execute  a 
temporary  receivership   under  the    Monroe 


152      An  Army  of  the  People 

Doctrine  without  disturbing  the  calm  of  our 
internal  affairs  and  without  diverting  the 
national  war  volunteers  from  their  indus- 
trial occupations.  At  the  outbreak  of  war 
this  regular  expeditionary  force  must  be 
ready  for  immediate  cooperation  with  the 
navy  in  sudden  strategic  enterprises,  such 
as  the  establishment  of  advanced  bases  for 
our  fleet,  or  the  reduction  and  capture  of 
hostile  bases  which  may  be  used  against 
us. 

The  Regular  Army  Act  of  191 8  was  drawn 
with  the  view  of  providing  the  limited  forces 
necessary  for  the  performance  of  the  above 
described  functions.  As  these  functions 
were  specific  and  definite  and  as  the  personnel 
and  armament  necessary  for  each  function 
could  be  calculated  and  verifi-ed  with  scientific 
precision,  the  legislative  task  was  simple. 
The  new  law  involved  some  moderate  in- 
creases in  the  regular  military  establishment, 
but  its  main  effect  was  a  readjustment  of 
the  components  of  the  old  army,  which  had 
grown  by  gradual  and  ill-digested  increments 


An  American  Military  Policy  153 

and  without  the  guidance  of  any  accepted 
scheme  of  military  policy. 

But  the  success  of  the  volunteer  army  not 
only  determined  the  final  form  of  the  regular 
establishment.  It  gave  it  new  ideals  and  a 
new  opportunity  for  usefulness.  The  pro- 
fessional soldier  no  longer  stands  for  some- 
thing foreign  to  our  political  ideals.  Through 
his  work  as  a  teacher  and  trained  adminis- 
trator, the  volunteer  army  claims  him  as  a 
part  of  itself.  The  army  ofificer  has  thus 
found  new  opportunities  for  usefulness  as  a 
citizen  as  well  as  a  soldier.  He  is  no  longer 
tempted  to  seek  his  best  hope  of  promotion 
through  the  caprices  of  service  legislation. 
His  chief  aim  is  to  establish  a  high  profes- 
sional reputation,  for  in  that  way  only  can 
he  obtain  the  coveted  honor  of  service  with 
the  American  volunteers. 

THE   NATIONAL  GUARD — A    RETROSPECT 

A  large  number  of  officers  and  enlisted 
men  of  the  Organized  Militia  transferred  to 
the  National  Volunteer  Army  in  the  first 


154       An  Army  of  the  People 

enrollment  of  191 6.  During  the  winter  of 
1916-1917,  the  final  opposition  to  the  volun- 
teer army  disappeared  and  most  States  re- 
vised their  militia  laws  to  meet  the  new 
condition.  Under  these  new  laws  the  Federal 
Government  was  finally  recognized  as  the 
national  war-preparing  power  as  well  as  the 
national  war-making  power.  The  States  were 
therefore  able  to  reduce  their  military  estab- 
lishments to  meet  their  purely  local  require- 
ments, and  were  released  from  any  implied 
obligation  to  maintain  expensive  military 
contingents  for  national  purposes.  In  some 
States  a  small  and  highly  trained  State  con- 
stabulary replaced  the  old  organized  units. 
In  others  the  old  organized  militia  was  recon- 
structed to  meet  the  requirements  of  purely 
local  defense.  These  arrangements  were 
regarded  as  purely  State  affairs  in  which 
the  Federal  Government  had  no  legitimate 
concern. 

The  National  Guard,  as  organized  under 
the  so-called  Dick  Law,  thus  disappeared, 
but  its  trained  personnel,  released  from  the 


An  American  Military  Policy  155 

discouragements  and  embarrassments  of  semi- 
constabulary  service,  passed  into  the  new 
volunteer  army  and  became  the  main  source 
of  its  first  contingent  of  officers  and  non- 
commissioned officers.  As  we  look  back  on 
the  national  militia  policy  from  1900  to  19 15, 
we  are  astonished  that  anything  so  absurd 
could  ever  have  been  taken  seriously.  Under 
the  Dick  Law,  the  States  were  induced  to 
maintain  more  troops  than  they  needed,  with 
the  prospect  of  losing  all  of  them  at  the  very 
time  when  they  might  be  needed  most;  the 
Federal  Government  was  expected  to  base 
its  defense  plans  on  forty-eight  State  contin- 
gents that  it  could  not  control,  train,  or  dis- 
cipline ;  and  the  young  men  of  America  who 
desired  to  volunteer  for  military  training 
found  no  opportunity  except  in  a  force  which 
was  principally  a  State  constabulary,  fre- 
quently dominated  by  petty  politics  and 
intrigue. 

But  the  patriotic  young  men  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard  are  the  real  founders  of  the 
American    army    of    trained    citizenry.     All 


156       An  Army  of  the  People 

honor  to  them  that  they  maintained  the 
tradition  of  that  great  national  ideal  in 
spite  of  the  burdens,  disappointments,  and 
neglects  that  characterized  their  service  in 
the  nondescript  Dick  Law  army. 

All  parties  are  now  agreed  that  Congress 
builded  wisely  when  it  erected  the  National 
Military  System  on  the  unrestricted  "consti- 
tutional power"  to  raise  and  support  armies. 
The  abandonment  of  the  constitutional 
militia  as  a  part  of  the  national  war  host 
was  best  for  the  nation,  best  for  the  States, 
and  best  for  the  patriotic  personnel  of  the 
National  Guard. 

THE   NAVY 

The  adoption  of  a  definite  organization  and 
policy  for  our  land  forces  has  resulted  in  a 
corresponding  settlement  of  our  naval  policy. 
No  longer  concerned  for  the  security  of  our 
coasts,  and  assured  of  the  inviolability  of  its 
military  bases,  the  navy  is  able  at  last  to 
concentrate  all  of  its  ability  and  all  of  its 
energy  on  preparation  for  its  true  war  mis- 


An  American  Military  Policy  157 

sion — that  is,  the  protection  of  our  foreign 
commerce  and  the  strategic  control  of  our 
sea  communications.  Organization  has  be- 
come definite  because  aims  have  become 
definite,  and  the  sole  aim  of  the  navy  and  of 
the  people  for  the  navy  is  the  maintenance  of 
a  fleet,  not  for  the  defense  of  localities  but 
for  freedom  of  action  at  sea.  In  this  inven- 
tive age  the  tenure  of  sea  power  has  become 
too  uncertain  and  precarious  to  form  the 
chief  reliance  of  national  defense,  and  so  the 
navy  has  found  its  true  military  mission  as 
the  strategic  advance  guard  of  The  Army  of 
the  People. 

AT  LAST 

During  the  debates  on  the  National  De- 
fense Bill  of  1916,  Senator  Straightedge 
concluded  one  of  his  speeches  as  follows : 

**I  am  a  man  of  peace  and  I  do  not  want 
war.  I  am  a  man  of  business  and  I  do  not 
want  to  spend  money  on  v/arlike  prepara- 
tions. But  as  I  look  about  me  over  an 
armed  world,  what  do  I  find?     I  find  that 


158       An  Army  of  the  People 

ours  is  the  only  nation  on  earth  that  can 
make  herself  impregnable  without  an  exces- 
sive financial  burden.  Is  it  sound  states- 
manship, is  it  good  business,  to  neglect  the 
cultivation  of  this  God-given  heritage?" 

Only  six  years  have  passed  and  already  the 
question  has  been  answered.  Our  military 
policy  is  settled.  An  unassailable  America 
stands  at  the  gateway  between  the  two 
oceans  and  repeats  her  old  message  of  civili- 
zation and  peace. 


THE   END 


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